Yesterday was one of those days where we didn't feel like doing anything - so we didn't. We did go to the grocery store though - only 2 miles away. It will be one of the last times that we can do grocery shopping so close.
We decided last week that we needed to have a couple good walkie-talkies for when we travel. Josie has to follow the rig in the Jeep and we had to have a way to communicate with each other aside from our phones. I purchased a couple Midland radios this week at Walmart and we tried those out yesterday. The range is supposed to be up to 20 miles but we could only get about 3 miles yesterday. I guess we have to read the book to find out how to stretch the range. There is a "gain" feature that we need to learn how to use.
Josie has to call her manager at Out of Africa today and give her the bad news about leaving. She doesn't seem too concerned about doing it and that's good. Other than that, we are enjoying the last few days of our time off and getting ready to hit the road again...
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Friday, October 30, 2009
Making Arrangements
All of the reservations that were made at the two membership parks were canceled yesterday. The stay here at the Western Horizon park was also shortened to Wednesday, November 4, as that is the day we will leave for Ocotillo Wells, CA. Actually, we will stay at another Western Horizon Park - The Colorado River Oasis, across the river from Blythe, CA - on Wednesday night and plan to arrive at our new location on Thursday. We could have actually made the trip in one day since it is only about 390 miles from here but decided to take it easy.
Josie is scheduled off for the next three days so she plans to call her manager tomorrow or Sunday to let her know about our new plans. There appears to be a lot of extra people working there right now until the park gets busy in the winter so Josie doesn't feel as bad as if they were short handed.
We now have to give up the PO Box that we struggled to get and have to let our mail forwarding service know about the new address. That has worked out very well so far since we just have to call them and tell them to hold our mail until we arrive at a new location. They only had to send one mailing to our PO Box in Camp Verde, but who knew it would change so fast?
The only other thing we need to take care of is getting Josie current with her prescriptions before we leave. We hope there is a Walgreen's in one of the close towns after we move. There has to be - they are on almost every corner in most towns. We will Google Walgreen's to find the nearest pharmacy.
That's about it for now - the excitement is building as it is again only 24 degrees outside as I write this. Who ever thought it would be this cold in Camp Verde? It must be about 10 degrees in Happy Jack - glad we're out of there...
Josie is scheduled off for the next three days so she plans to call her manager tomorrow or Sunday to let her know about our new plans. There appears to be a lot of extra people working there right now until the park gets busy in the winter so Josie doesn't feel as bad as if they were short handed.
We now have to give up the PO Box that we struggled to get and have to let our mail forwarding service know about the new address. That has worked out very well so far since we just have to call them and tell them to hold our mail until we arrive at a new location. They only had to send one mailing to our PO Box in Camp Verde, but who knew it would change so fast?
The only other thing we need to take care of is getting Josie current with her prescriptions before we leave. We hope there is a Walgreen's in one of the close towns after we move. There has to be - they are on almost every corner in most towns. We will Google Walgreen's to find the nearest pharmacy.
That's about it for now - the excitement is building as it is again only 24 degrees outside as I write this. Who ever thought it would be this cold in Camp Verde? It must be about 10 degrees in Happy Jack - glad we're out of there...
Thursday, October 29, 2009
California, Here We Come!
It was mentioned last week that we received an inquiry, out of the blue, to be campground hosts at a park in California. After talking with the management and negotiating for the last couple days, we decided that it was a good opportunity for us. Our goal all along is to obtain jobs where we both can work and is in an area that allows us to see new things and is in an area that is suitable for us, climate wise. Camp Verde is a very nice area, but it is (now) 24 degrees outside and it only got to 45 yesterday. That, plus only Josie is working and at a place that, although exciting, really provides no real experience for our Workamping resume. Our Workamping goals are such that we do not want to get "trapped" in corporate jobs that are similar to what we left in our other life. If we both worked at different jobs in different companies, it would defeat our purpose.
The Blu In RV Park is a brand new RV park that just opened the first of October. This is in an area that is only 90 minutes from San Diego and gives us a real opportunity to "make a difference" at a park that is just establishing itself. The park is in the high desert and is very similar to Palm Springs in terms of climate. The big attraction for this park is its proximity to the sand dunes for off-roading. Our only hesitation at first was the fact that it is in the desert and not real close to a major town. Having spent the last 5 months nearly 50 miles from nowhere, we felt that we could handle the location. There are many places for us to explore in an area that we have never spent any time.
Josie is planning to give notice at Out of Africa at the end of the week. They have been aware that we would prefer working together at the same location so it will not be a total surprise. The only business we need to take care of before we leave is the replacement of our ice maker and the repair of our water pump. That is scheduled for Monday AM so we plan to leave on Tuesday or Wednesday and take two days to get there.
Later...
The Blu In RV Park is a brand new RV park that just opened the first of October. This is in an area that is only 90 minutes from San Diego and gives us a real opportunity to "make a difference" at a park that is just establishing itself. The park is in the high desert and is very similar to Palm Springs in terms of climate. The big attraction for this park is its proximity to the sand dunes for off-roading. Our only hesitation at first was the fact that it is in the desert and not real close to a major town. Having spent the last 5 months nearly 50 miles from nowhere, we felt that we could handle the location. There are many places for us to explore in an area that we have never spent any time.
Josie is planning to give notice at Out of Africa at the end of the week. They have been aware that we would prefer working together at the same location so it will not be a total surprise. The only business we need to take care of before we leave is the replacement of our ice maker and the repair of our water pump. That is scheduled for Monday AM so we plan to leave on Tuesday or Wednesday and take two days to get there.
Later...
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Establishing a Routine
Yesterday was another good day for Josie at Out of Africa. The people think she is a quick learner and they are happy to have her there. There was a slight misunderstanding though of the store policy for employees. Josie saw a great vest that she wanted so she could stay warm in the admissions booth during the morning hours. She thought that the employee discount was 50%, but it actually is 15%. That sounds a lot like 50% and is probably the kind of misunderstanding I would have with my hearing problem. Anyway, instead of the vest costing her about $20, it would cost $35 so she put it back. Maybe some other time.
I have been taking her to work in the AM and picking her up at 5 PM. Since it's only 2 miles round trip, it's not a big deal. We would prefer to work together but right now it appears that Out of Africa doesn't need another worker. We are working on other options right now and may have a solution soon. Expect a "big" announcement in the next day or so.
Today is another work day for Josie and I have to try to make arrangements for our fifth wheel repairs that were pending from Happy Jack. The ice maker is to be replaced and the new water pump that was installed is as dead as the first one was. There has to be another problem with that pump that hasn't been diagnosed since we shouldn't have to replace a new pump so quickly.
The weather turned cold and windy yesterday and made us feel lucky that we are out of the high country now. We're sure they are having sub 20 degree temperatures and possibly some snow activity based on reports on the TV. It warms up pretty good here during the day - over 70 degrees every day. That's about it for today...
I have been taking her to work in the AM and picking her up at 5 PM. Since it's only 2 miles round trip, it's not a big deal. We would prefer to work together but right now it appears that Out of Africa doesn't need another worker. We are working on other options right now and may have a solution soon. Expect a "big" announcement in the next day or so.
Today is another work day for Josie and I have to try to make arrangements for our fifth wheel repairs that were pending from Happy Jack. The ice maker is to be replaced and the new water pump that was installed is as dead as the first one was. There has to be another problem with that pump that hasn't been diagnosed since we shouldn't have to replace a new pump so quickly.
The weather turned cold and windy yesterday and made us feel lucky that we are out of the high country now. We're sure they are having sub 20 degree temperatures and possibly some snow activity based on reports on the TV. It warms up pretty good here during the day - over 70 degrees every day. That's about it for today...
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Settling In
We left the fifth wheel at about 8:20 yesterday morning as we drove to Out of Africa for Josie's first day on her new job. We were met at the gate by her new manager, Sydney (a woman) and off she went to work.
I went to the post office in Camp Verde to get our PO Box and to try to find a FedEx drop box to return Josie's replaced phone. As soon as I got to the door at the post office, I realized that I locked the keys in the Jeep. Oh, well. We got the PO Box, finally, and I asked the clerk if they had a taxi service in Camp Verde since I locked my keys in the car and have another set at the campground, about 5 miles away. He suggested AAA. We discontinued our AAA membership before we left Surprise and joined the Good Sam Emergency Road Service instead since they would cover the Fifth Wheel in addition to both vehicles, and for less money than AAA. This was a chance to try them out.
A gentleman showed up after about 40 minutes, with his flatbed trailer in tow, and he had a "kit" that he uses to sort of "break" into vehicles to retrieve keys. It looked liked he was going to do some damage to the door, so I suggested he stop the effort and just drive me to the campground, get the spare set of keys, and drive me back to the car. He agreed, and by 11 AM I was on the road again. I would rate the new service a C+ for the first time. The guy that showed up drove from Mayer, near Prescott. I was disappointed that the Good Sam service had to go all the way to Mayer, 40 minutes away, to find a person to respond to my service call. We'll see how they perform in the future.
I then drove to Cottonwood to run a few other errands and got home at about 2 PM to rearrange our reservations for the next four months. It turns out that we can stay 21 days at each of the parks, so we don't have to move as often. We now have reservations until the first of March which is as far out as we can make them.
Josie's first day was a success. She said the work is fun and the biggest thing to learn is how to react and respond to people's stories for obtaining discounts. An example is a woman approaches the Admissions window and states that her son is only three years old and he is nearly as tall as she is. There are many different scenarios and she said that, in almost all cases, they let the people in with the discounts even though they are clearly lying. Good customer service, I guess.
Until tomorrow...
I went to the post office in Camp Verde to get our PO Box and to try to find a FedEx drop box to return Josie's replaced phone. As soon as I got to the door at the post office, I realized that I locked the keys in the Jeep. Oh, well. We got the PO Box, finally, and I asked the clerk if they had a taxi service in Camp Verde since I locked my keys in the car and have another set at the campground, about 5 miles away. He suggested AAA. We discontinued our AAA membership before we left Surprise and joined the Good Sam Emergency Road Service instead since they would cover the Fifth Wheel in addition to both vehicles, and for less money than AAA. This was a chance to try them out.
A gentleman showed up after about 40 minutes, with his flatbed trailer in tow, and he had a "kit" that he uses to sort of "break" into vehicles to retrieve keys. It looked liked he was going to do some damage to the door, so I suggested he stop the effort and just drive me to the campground, get the spare set of keys, and drive me back to the car. He agreed, and by 11 AM I was on the road again. I would rate the new service a C+ for the first time. The guy that showed up drove from Mayer, near Prescott. I was disappointed that the Good Sam service had to go all the way to Mayer, 40 minutes away, to find a person to respond to my service call. We'll see how they perform in the future.
I then drove to Cottonwood to run a few other errands and got home at about 2 PM to rearrange our reservations for the next four months. It turns out that we can stay 21 days at each of the parks, so we don't have to move as often. We now have reservations until the first of March which is as far out as we can make them.
Josie's first day was a success. She said the work is fun and the biggest thing to learn is how to react and respond to people's stories for obtaining discounts. An example is a woman approaches the Admissions window and states that her son is only three years old and he is nearly as tall as she is. There are many different scenarios and she said that, in almost all cases, they let the people in with the discounts even though they are clearly lying. Good customer service, I guess.
Until tomorrow...
Monday, October 26, 2009
Camp Verde, AZ
Our departure from Happy Jack occurred right on time shortly after noon yesterday. After saying our goodbyes to Chi Chi and Jamie we hit the road and arrived at Camp Verde at 1:30 PM.
Our site at the Western Horizon campground is a nice one right next to the satellite building that contains the showers and laundry facilities. The sites are large and we have plenty of room with some nice trees. Below are some pictures of the site, starting with Josie relaxing with a glass of wine:
Our site at the Western Horizon campground is a nice one right next to the satellite building that contains the showers and laundry facilities. The sites are large and we have plenty of room with some nice trees. Below are some pictures of the site, starting with Josie relaxing with a glass of wine:
Here is a shot from the front of the site:
A shot from the rear of the site:
And finally, a shot down the road from our site toward the mountains that surround the campground:
We took a walk after we set up and found the Verde River just a short way across from our site. It would be to the left of the above shot toward the mountains. There were several good spots along the river to fish from although the river runs pretty fast in most spots. We didn't take the camera on the walk so pictures will have to come later.
The move to Camp Verde occurred just in time to avoid the really cold weather at Happy Jack. Since it is 32 degrees outside here now, it must be about 15-20 degrees at Happy Jack. We also heard that snow is expected above 5,000 feet by Wednesday, so we are glad we made it out in time.
Josie is looking forward to her first day at Out of Africa today. I will take her to work this morning and pick her up after work. We need a few things from the grocery store - which is only a few miles away now instead of 50 miles. I will also make another attempt at getting our PO Box at the post office. I have a receipt from the campground, so we'll see if that satisfies them.
So, our second chapter begins in our full-timing lifestyle...
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Moving Day
The day yesterday was a bit better than Friday but still was slow by the summer standards. It was a better cash sales day but the total deposit, including credit card sales, was still only $285.
Our commitment here is officially over and we will pack up and move on to Camp Verde today.
Just about everything is ready to go. We topped off the propane yesterday afternoon which has been free for us while staying here. This morning we will shift some things around in the vehicles to carry some of the heavier stuff like the folding chairs and some clothing containers. It's probably a good thing that we aren't traveling too far on this move because we still have to "permanently" get rid of some things to lighten our load for longer trips.
We will have a leisurely breakfast this morning and plan to head out sometime around noon. That would get us to our new park at about 1:30, which gives us enough time to set up and relax a little. Josie begins her new job tomorrow. We are sorry that she doesn't have any rest between jobs but she is comfortable with it. After just over 5 months at Happy Jack, we are looking forward to a new adventure. Happy Jack has been good to us and we will miss it - even though we plan to return next summer. It would take something really great to change that plan, but we are open to other opportunities if the situation is right for us.
Wagons Ho!!...
Our commitment here is officially over and we will pack up and move on to Camp Verde today.
Just about everything is ready to go. We topped off the propane yesterday afternoon which has been free for us while staying here. This morning we will shift some things around in the vehicles to carry some of the heavier stuff like the folding chairs and some clothing containers. It's probably a good thing that we aren't traveling too far on this move because we still have to "permanently" get rid of some things to lighten our load for longer trips.
We will have a leisurely breakfast this morning and plan to head out sometime around noon. That would get us to our new park at about 1:30, which gives us enough time to set up and relax a little. Josie begins her new job tomorrow. We are sorry that she doesn't have any rest between jobs but she is comfortable with it. After just over 5 months at Happy Jack, we are looking forward to a new adventure. Happy Jack has been good to us and we will miss it - even though we plan to return next summer. It would take something really great to change that plan, but we are open to other opportunities if the situation is right for us.
Wagons Ho!!...
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Getting Ready to Leave
Yesterday was the slowest day ever. We had a total of $8.51 in cash sales at the store. With the weather getting colder and the hunting season taking a breather until next week, there was hardly anybody around. The credit card sales brought the total deposit for the day to just over $450. It was very difficult for Josie and I to stay busy and we finally closed the store early at 4PM.
We made some more preparations for our departure. Josie did some organizing on the inside and Bob got rid of some things in the basement. Also, we haven't used the generator since we arrived here in May so we added some "Stay-Bil" to the gas in the can and to the generator. This is a fuel treatment that will preserve gas up to two years and works like a charm. The generator fired up after a few pulls on the starter and ran for about 15 minutes before we shut it down. Today we will top off our propane tanks and make sure the tires have the proper inflation.
We received an inquiry yesterday - out of the blue - from a brand new park in Southern California located in the high desert near Julian, Ca. It sounds like it could be a good place to go for the winter season and the manager indicated that he needs a couple from now to April. This is the perfect time frame to compliment our stay at Happy Jack. We will have to look real hard at it though since we are committed now to Camp Verde.
Today ends our official stay at Happy Jack. We expect another slow day and probably will close early again and do some more final checks on the rig. Later...
We made some more preparations for our departure. Josie did some organizing on the inside and Bob got rid of some things in the basement. Also, we haven't used the generator since we arrived here in May so we added some "Stay-Bil" to the gas in the can and to the generator. This is a fuel treatment that will preserve gas up to two years and works like a charm. The generator fired up after a few pulls on the starter and ran for about 15 minutes before we shut it down. Today we will top off our propane tanks and make sure the tires have the proper inflation.
We received an inquiry yesterday - out of the blue - from a brand new park in Southern California located in the high desert near Julian, Ca. It sounds like it could be a good place to go for the winter season and the manager indicated that he needs a couple from now to April. This is the perfect time frame to compliment our stay at Happy Jack. We will have to look real hard at it though since we are committed now to Camp Verde.
Today ends our official stay at Happy Jack. We expect another slow day and probably will close early again and do some more final checks on the rig. Later...
Friday, October 23, 2009
Busy Day in Town
Our trip to Cottonwood yesterday was split into two halves - the first half was successful and the second half was frustrating.
We first stopped at Out of Africa to see if Josie could take her "pee" test for employment - drug test, in other words - and to pick up the note for the post office that stated she was hired and would be in the area. The post office required this for the PO Box (?). We went to the place for her test and got that out of the way. The next chore was to find a replacement bulb for one of our track lights that went out. Our first attempt at the RV store in Cottonwood was negative. They pointed us to Home Depot and that was successful. After lunch at Denny's, we went to Verizon to get Josie's replacement phone programmed and left there at about 2 PM.
The second, and frustrating, part of the day began with a stop at the Thousand Trails campground to find out about work opportunities for Bob. They informed us that their corporate office has forced them to "stretch" duties for the existing staff and would not be adding any more member workers. Bummer. The manager then told us that beginning in March, the high season, we have to stay out of the park for 28 days instead of the normal 1 week. We then went to the Western Horizon campground to meet the manager and also find out from her about working opportunities. She will not know how much leeway she has for workers until November 1 which is the day we check in. Anyway, she said that Western Horizon will have the same rule for the high season beginning in March that a member must stay out for 28 days instead of the normal 1 week. We will have to address that situation before March.
The last, and most frustrating stop, was the post office. We handed the application to the clerk along with the note on Out of Africa letterhead. She said the note wasn't enough. She asked if we had a bill, or something with our name on it with a physical address in Camp Verde. Sheesh! If we had a bill that showed a physical address we wouldn't need the PO Box, would we? It seems now that we have to get a receipt from the campground that has our name on it and the address of the campground. Now isn't that dumb? We will only be in the campground for two weeks before we move to the next one. We'll do whatever they want.
We arrived back at the lodge and took the freezer to the storage area in back of the lodge along with our little patio swing. Today we work all day and again tomorrow for our last days of working here this season. It is 24 degrees outside so the move to warmer areas will be welcome...
We first stopped at Out of Africa to see if Josie could take her "pee" test for employment - drug test, in other words - and to pick up the note for the post office that stated she was hired and would be in the area. The post office required this for the PO Box (?). We went to the place for her test and got that out of the way. The next chore was to find a replacement bulb for one of our track lights that went out. Our first attempt at the RV store in Cottonwood was negative. They pointed us to Home Depot and that was successful. After lunch at Denny's, we went to Verizon to get Josie's replacement phone programmed and left there at about 2 PM.
The second, and frustrating, part of the day began with a stop at the Thousand Trails campground to find out about work opportunities for Bob. They informed us that their corporate office has forced them to "stretch" duties for the existing staff and would not be adding any more member workers. Bummer. The manager then told us that beginning in March, the high season, we have to stay out of the park for 28 days instead of the normal 1 week. We then went to the Western Horizon campground to meet the manager and also find out from her about working opportunities. She will not know how much leeway she has for workers until November 1 which is the day we check in. Anyway, she said that Western Horizon will have the same rule for the high season beginning in March that a member must stay out for 28 days instead of the normal 1 week. We will have to address that situation before March.
The last, and most frustrating stop, was the post office. We handed the application to the clerk along with the note on Out of Africa letterhead. She said the note wasn't enough. She asked if we had a bill, or something with our name on it with a physical address in Camp Verde. Sheesh! If we had a bill that showed a physical address we wouldn't need the PO Box, would we? It seems now that we have to get a receipt from the campground that has our name on it and the address of the campground. Now isn't that dumb? We will only be in the campground for two weeks before we move to the next one. We'll do whatever they want.
We arrived back at the lodge and took the freezer to the storage area in back of the lodge along with our little patio swing. Today we work all day and again tomorrow for our last days of working here this season. It is 24 degrees outside so the move to warmer areas will be welcome...
Thursday, October 22, 2009
Cottonwood and Another Impromptu Dinner
We went to Cottonwood yesterday to take care of a few details before we head down from Happy Jack. We stopped at the Verizon store to find out where Josie's replacement phone was. They indicated that it would be received that day. We also went to Out of Africa to iron out some details about the starting day (Monday) for Josie and to let them know that we had to stay over until Sunday because of the Managers' personal trip to the Valley. They suggested that Josie can start later in the week so she could have some time off between jobs, but Josie said she was anxious to start so the start day is still Monday. We then stopped at the Western Horizon park where we will start our stay in Camp Verde. Bob wanted to find out if it was possible to work there in order to stay the whole winter - working either there or the Thousand Trails campground would eliminate our changing between them every three weeks. We then stopped at the Camp Verde post office to get an application for a PO Box. Josie also stopped at a Nails and Spa place where she had a coupon for their grand opening. After getting her nails done we decided to stop at the Cliff Castle Casino - just to check out new machines, if any (Ha!) We used some of Josie's tip money from the restauarant and only played for about an hour. We don't like that casino as much as the others we've played recently. The machines seem to be all multiple play for each denomination so your money can go fast. It did. Fortunately, we didn't play very much so we didn't lose very much.
When we returned to the lodge, we found that Josie's phone did arrive, along with the Florida plate for the truck. Jamie asked us if we wanted to have dinner again at the lodge while watching the baseball playoffs on big screen TV. Great idea! She prepared some big steaks with baked potato, salad and corn on the cob and we again enjoyed the open bar. It was a fun evening and most likely our last meal at the lodge for a while.
Today we go back to Camp Verde with our completed application for a PO Box at the post office, and to get Josie's new phone programmed at Verizon. We also emptied out the freezer and will complete that task of moving it down to the lodge for storage when we return. Until tomorrow...
When we returned to the lodge, we found that Josie's phone did arrive, along with the Florida plate for the truck. Jamie asked us if we wanted to have dinner again at the lodge while watching the baseball playoffs on big screen TV. Great idea! She prepared some big steaks with baked potato, salad and corn on the cob and we again enjoyed the open bar. It was a fun evening and most likely our last meal at the lodge for a while.
Today we go back to Camp Verde with our completed application for a PO Box at the post office, and to get Josie's new phone programmed at Verizon. We also emptied out the freezer and will complete that task of moving it down to the lodge for storage when we return. Until tomorrow...
Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Done, But Not Done
It has been difficult to establish our schedule with the uncertainty of Chi Chi and Jamie's schedule. Yesterday, Chi Chi said that they would like to be in the Valley for their friend's service and funeral on Friday and Saturday. The viewing is actually on Thursday, but Chi Chi said he wants no part of the viewing. It is enough that he has to give a speech at the service on Friday, and he doubts that he will get more than one or two minutes into the speech before he breaks down. Anyway, we have decided to stay until Sunday. We will work both Friday and Saturday which will give us a little extra money. In the meantime, we will get our normal two days off today and tomorrow which will allow us to get ready to move on Sunday.
Today we will travel to Camp Verde to set up delivery of our mail at the post office and then go to Cottonwood to the bank. Camp Verde has no Bank of America branch so banking will be done in Cottonwood. There are lots of things we need to do to get ready for travel. First of all, we will empty the freezer and get it ready for storage here at the lodge. Then we need to go through the basement area and the rest of the rig to see what things can be removed to lighten the load. That will be the tough part.
It is a shame that we can't get down to our new site and set up before Sunday since Josie starts her new job on Monday. We thought about going down on Thursday, but the commute back and forth from Camp Verde to Happy Jack is over 120 miles and we would rather save the time and gas. We had some fairly strong winds yesterday and it got pretty cold in the afternoon. We even had a few snow flurries but the wind stopped and it warmed back up again before evening. Good thing. Snow really isn't a factor here (normally) before the first of December, but we all know about the "freak" storms.
That's about it for now...
Today we will travel to Camp Verde to set up delivery of our mail at the post office and then go to Cottonwood to the bank. Camp Verde has no Bank of America branch so banking will be done in Cottonwood. There are lots of things we need to do to get ready for travel. First of all, we will empty the freezer and get it ready for storage here at the lodge. Then we need to go through the basement area and the rest of the rig to see what things can be removed to lighten the load. That will be the tough part.
It is a shame that we can't get down to our new site and set up before Sunday since Josie starts her new job on Monday. We thought about going down on Thursday, but the commute back and forth from Camp Verde to Happy Jack is over 120 miles and we would rather save the time and gas. We had some fairly strong winds yesterday and it got pretty cold in the afternoon. We even had a few snow flurries but the wind stopped and it warmed back up again before evening. Good thing. Snow really isn't a factor here (normally) before the first of December, but we all know about the "freak" storms.
That's about it for now...
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Stretching Our Time Here
We had a fairly busy day yesterday for a Monday. It seems that many of the hunters stayed over the weekend and came into the store looking for ice to pack their elk meat and shower tokens to clean up before heading out. Chi Chi came into the store in the AM to gather the time cards and the deposits to deliver to the General Manager in Flagstaff. He asked if we could stay over a couple days because he may need coverage on Thursday (our normal day off if we were here). Of course. Our reservation at Western Horizon can be changed and Josie has some time before she starts work at Out of Africa.
It turns out that Chi Chi's best friend died suddenly from cancer. He had liver cancer but had been in remission and was doing well. He was here for the bike rally that was held in July and he was doing well. He didn't mention anything in the AM when he asked if we could be available - mainly because he didn't want Jamie to know about it until she drove the long distance to their home near Luke Air Force Base in the Valley. She generally goes to their home for a day or so when they have off days. Anyway, Chi Chi was visibly shaken when he returned to the store in the afternoon as we were closing. The gentleman was only 53 years old. We will do whatever we need to do to help them through this.
Josie will begin working at Out of Africa on Monday, October 26. She talked to her manager yesterday and they want to begin training her right away. Josie also has to take a drug test before she starts which will also be on Monday.
Today will be a long day for us as there many cabins to be cleaned and we work the full day as Chi Chi and Jamie have their second day off. It was suppose to be our last day working but now we are expecting to stay - probably until Friday. Until tomorrow...
It turns out that Chi Chi's best friend died suddenly from cancer. He had liver cancer but had been in remission and was doing well. He was here for the bike rally that was held in July and he was doing well. He didn't mention anything in the AM when he asked if we could be available - mainly because he didn't want Jamie to know about it until she drove the long distance to their home near Luke Air Force Base in the Valley. She generally goes to their home for a day or so when they have off days. Anyway, Chi Chi was visibly shaken when he returned to the store in the afternoon as we were closing. The gentleman was only 53 years old. We will do whatever we need to do to help them through this.
Josie will begin working at Out of Africa on Monday, October 26. She talked to her manager yesterday and they want to begin training her right away. Josie also has to take a drug test before she starts which will also be on Monday.
Today will be a long day for us as there many cabins to be cleaned and we work the full day as Chi Chi and Jamie have their second day off. It was suppose to be our last day working but now we are expecting to stay - probably until Friday. Until tomorrow...
Monday, October 19, 2009
Impromptu Dinner
Josie had to start work yesterday at 7 AM to help out in the restaurant which served the last meal of the season. Her day ended up being over 10 hours long. Meanwhile, Bob went into Cottonwood in the AM to get a replacement phone for Josie (hers lost its display) under the warranty and also to pick up one of Josie's prescriptions at Walgreen's. The temperature reached 89 degrees in Cottonwood at 11 AM while the temperature at Happy Jack was 70 degrees when Bob returned to the lodge and to work at noon. It's hard to believe there is such a huge swing in such a short distance. The high for the day in Happy Jack was 74.
Part of our final activities before we leave here is to empty our freezer so that we can store it here at the lodge while we are gone for the winter. One of the big items in the freezer was a turkey that had to be eaten. So, during a break, Josie put the turkey in the roaster at the lodge. All afternoon people were walking into the store and smelling the turkey cooking and asked if the restaurant was again going to open for dinner. The restaurant didn't open, but we had an impromptu dinner after work in Jack's Place in the banquet room. Jamie came down and prepared some vegetables and helped Josie with the meal while Bob mashed potatoes and carved the turkey. Chi Chi set up the bar in Jack's Place, turned on the big screen TV and we had dinner, with an open bar, while watching the Sunday Night Football game on TV. Also invited were two men that we have come to know very well that have been staying in our cabins on weekdays for the last couple months while working on a project in the Happy Jack area, and one of our maintenance staff, Tom.
The dinner was great and we wound up the evening just after 8:30 PM. We will miss this kind of fellowship after we leave. But then, there are new relationships to be formed and more good times at the next stop. Until tomorrow...
Part of our final activities before we leave here is to empty our freezer so that we can store it here at the lodge while we are gone for the winter. One of the big items in the freezer was a turkey that had to be eaten. So, during a break, Josie put the turkey in the roaster at the lodge. All afternoon people were walking into the store and smelling the turkey cooking and asked if the restaurant was again going to open for dinner. The restaurant didn't open, but we had an impromptu dinner after work in Jack's Place in the banquet room. Jamie came down and prepared some vegetables and helped Josie with the meal while Bob mashed potatoes and carved the turkey. Chi Chi set up the bar in Jack's Place, turned on the big screen TV and we had dinner, with an open bar, while watching the Sunday Night Football game on TV. Also invited were two men that we have come to know very well that have been staying in our cabins on weekdays for the last couple months while working on a project in the Happy Jack area, and one of our maintenance staff, Tom.
The dinner was great and we wound up the evening just after 8:30 PM. We will miss this kind of fellowship after we leave. But then, there are new relationships to be formed and more good times at the next stop. Until tomorrow...
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Three Days Left
Our day yesterday was like one of the mid summer days. Very busy all day long. There was a steady stream of hunters and families and it made the day go fast. We worked the morning up until about noon again, came home until 4 PM, and went back to finish the day at 9:30 PM. Today should be a similar day, business wise. There will be a letdown tomorrow except that Josie will have to clean - with Jamie's help - all 18 cabins as they will be vacated today.
There were many more elk taken yesterday and the Arizona Elk Society said that the long weekend was a very successful event for them. It was nice to get to know these folks and they indicated they would back next year.
Josie has to go in early today to help with the breakfast service while Bob doesn't go in until noon. Her day will have a couple hours break at mid day before she begins the cabins. With three more days to go, we are looking forward to some rest time between jobs. That's about it for now. A short entry because we spent most of the day working yesterday...
There were many more elk taken yesterday and the Arizona Elk Society said that the long weekend was a very successful event for them. It was nice to get to know these folks and they indicated they would back next year.
Josie has to go in early today to help with the breakfast service while Bob doesn't go in until noon. Her day will have a couple hours break at mid day before she begins the cabins. With three more days to go, we are looking forward to some rest time between jobs. That's about it for now. A short entry because we spent most of the day working yesterday...
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Helicopter and Hunting Success
For the third time this year a helicopter had to land at the lodge to rescue another individual. This time, a hunter was experiencing chest pains. A rescue ambulance was called and they loaded the individual into an ambulance and drove him to the lodge to wait for the helicopter. They finally loaded him into the copter at about 7:45 AM (below) and we started our work shift by 8 AM:
It's still nice to know that there is an emergency response available like this in the remote area of Happy Jack.
The Arizona Elk Society's Junior Elk Hunting Camp got underway yesterday morning and by 8:15 a young girl came into the lodge with the first elk. She was hunting with her grandfather and we got a shot of both with her prize elk:
The girl was also presented with a certificate that provided for complete processing of her animal by 4 Peaks, the meat processor that is set up across the street. That represents a $200 value. Not bad for a girl's first hunting success. We were told that by 5 PM yesterday the processors had handled 30 elk. So far, a very successful hunt.
It was a busy day as we worked until just after noon and then returned at 4 PM to help with the dinner service and close out. It was after 9:30 last night when we finally returned home.
We get to repeat the schedule again today. The countdown continues as we only have 4 more days of work before our commitment ends at the lodge.
A phone conversation with the Caney Creek RV Resort in Tennessee resulted in a hold pattern for us. The Manager indicated that he would like to hear from us in January to see if our plans could include a summer job at their resort. He understood our requirement to make more money than he could offer for the winter job, but would like to have us for the summer when we could make more money. That is a possibility if we decide not to return to the lodge here at Happy Jack, but for now, we are planning to return here...
Friday, October 16, 2009
Final Push
Yesterday was a day of follow up at both the Southwestern Eye Center and Out of Africa. Josie's eye is almost back to normal and we dropped off the new hire paperwork for her new job at Out of Africa. She will begin sometime during the week of October 26. Our hope was that we could fly to Chicago during that week and visit with Patty, Mark and the grand kids for several days. After spending quite a bit of time searching for flights on the Internet, we decided that the cost was too high for us at this time. The airlines have been steadily raising their fares, and the best we could find would have cost us over $1K to travel with the gas, parking and air fares. We called Patty and suggested a spring visit between our jobs at that time. That was a bummer!
We also notified Distant Drums of our decision to pass on their offer for the winter. It didn't make sense to spend two days a week working in the office just for the site. I figured the value of the site translated into our making about $5.45 per hour for the time in the office. Them ain't good wages! Steve, the manager, understood and said we could return if our situation changes. So, it looks like we will be spending the winter in the two membership campgrounds on a rotating basis.
We also received a message from a campground in Tennessee, Caney Creek RV Resorts, that was voted the best campground in Tennessee by Good Sam in 2007. It is a beautiful campground on the water with a marina and great amenities. This is a place where we sent a resume several weeks ago and had an initial phone call stating that they were interested in us, but we needed to get back to them the next day. You may recall that this was a message that we received three days after it was left. Well, it seems they are still interested in us for the time frame of late January to May. The biggest problems for us are twofold: suppose the Out of Africa job turns out to be a huge winner, and, do we want to travel to Tennessee in the winter. This looks like the kind of campground where we would enjoy spending a long term commitment. We will talk to the management today.
We can see that the Arizona Elk Society has moved into the Ramada here at the lodge and are pretty well set up for their Youth Elk Hunt. Today begins the final push, the final work week. It should be a busy, and long, weekend...
We also notified Distant Drums of our decision to pass on their offer for the winter. It didn't make sense to spend two days a week working in the office just for the site. I figured the value of the site translated into our making about $5.45 per hour for the time in the office. Them ain't good wages! Steve, the manager, understood and said we could return if our situation changes. So, it looks like we will be spending the winter in the two membership campgrounds on a rotating basis.
We also received a message from a campground in Tennessee, Caney Creek RV Resorts, that was voted the best campground in Tennessee by Good Sam in 2007. It is a beautiful campground on the water with a marina and great amenities. This is a place where we sent a resume several weeks ago and had an initial phone call stating that they were interested in us, but we needed to get back to them the next day. You may recall that this was a message that we received three days after it was left. Well, it seems they are still interested in us for the time frame of late January to May. The biggest problems for us are twofold: suppose the Out of Africa job turns out to be a huge winner, and, do we want to travel to Tennessee in the winter. This looks like the kind of campground where we would enjoy spending a long term commitment. We will talk to the management today.
We can see that the Arizona Elk Society has moved into the Ramada here at the lodge and are pretty well set up for their Youth Elk Hunt. Today begins the final push, the final work week. It should be a busy, and long, weekend...
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Two Jobs and Out of Africa
Our interview at Distant Drums RV Resort went very well yesterday. The manager, Steve, reviewed the entire operation of the campground and described all the responsibilities. They use the same software, Campground Manager, that we use at Happy Jack so we would require very little training and we would, essentially, be productive from the first day. The bomb that he dropped was that our positions would be as volunteers, with only our site and all hookups provided in exchange for two 6 hour days each week, for each of us. He suggested some of the sites for us to look at that would be for Workampers. None of the sites we looked at would accommodate both our vehicles plus the fifth wheel. The sites were very nice but on the small side. We tentatively agreed to start working there on November 2. He gave us a lot to think about.
We then went to Denny's for brunch to talk about this offer and to decide what our next move should be. Since we didn't hear anything from Out of Africa the whole week, we decided to drop by and see if Josie could talk to someone.
Josie was almost attacked by the manager when we arrived. She had been leaving messages all week to try to get her to come in to speak with the owner. As you know, the problems we've had with the stupid Alltel prepaid phone included not receiving messages for about a week after they are left. Anyway, the people there were very excited to see her and said that the owner wanted to speak with her but couldn't until about 4 PM. This was at about 1 PM. So, they gave both of us tickets for the park and Safari and asked us to return to the Gift Shop at around 4 PM for her interview.
The trip around the park was outstanding. It is everything we imagined it to be. We started out with a tram ride to the Tiger Splash event. Below is a picture of that event:
We then went to Denny's for brunch to talk about this offer and to decide what our next move should be. Since we didn't hear anything from Out of Africa the whole week, we decided to drop by and see if Josie could talk to someone.
Josie was almost attacked by the manager when we arrived. She had been leaving messages all week to try to get her to come in to speak with the owner. As you know, the problems we've had with the stupid Alltel prepaid phone included not receiving messages for about a week after they are left. Anyway, the people there were very excited to see her and said that the owner wanted to speak with her but couldn't until about 4 PM. This was at about 1 PM. So, they gave both of us tickets for the park and Safari and asked us to return to the Gift Shop at around 4 PM for her interview.
The trip around the park was outstanding. It is everything we imagined it to be. We started out with a tram ride to the Tiger Splash event. Below is a picture of that event:
There were three tigers performing and they acted just like you would expect to see a household cat act with toys. The only difference being that these cats liked the water. We then began walking from this event to several others that were being conducted throughout the park. We took way too many pictures to show in this entry but almost every area had great views of the surrounding area, such as this one of the lions relaxing on top of their shelter:
After walking through the park for about an hour we arrived at the boarding area for the Safari. This is a bus that has open sides and travels through an area where there are animals roaming without cages. The driver gave everybody a piece of food - it looked like and smelled like a dog biscuit - to feed the animals. Our first stop was to feed this giraffe:
The bus continued through the wildlife park and we saw many different animals including ostriches, zebras, antelope, camels, and other African animals. It was about 3:50 PM when we arrived back at the gift shop.
Josie then had her interview with the owner - it went well - and they agreed to have her start on November 2nd at a fairly good pay rate. She will be working at least 4 days a week and we are both excited about this opportunity. Her immediate manager, Sydney, indicated that there probably would also be an opening for me at some point - maybe driving one of the trams.
The offer for Josie at Out of Africa has changed our thinking about the Distant Drums opportunity. Our main reason for taking that job was to eliminate the moving back and forth from the two membership parks while we searched for "real" jobs. Now, we are prepared to move every three weeks between the two parks. Remember, the Out of Africa location is only one mile away from one of the campgrounds, and four miles from the other.
Today we go back to Cottonwood to have Josie's eye checked and to drop off her new hire package at Out of Africa. Things are looking up...
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Looks Like Two More Trips to Cottonwood
We received a call yesterday from the Distant Drums RV Resort in Camp Verde. That was one of the campgrounds we visited last week and thought there might be a chance for us to work there for the winter. The manager wants us to come in this morning to talk about that possibility. We still have to go to Cottonwood tomorrow to get Josie's eye checked and for her interview with the Out of Africa owner. If the Distant Drums interview goes well, it could eliminate the Out of Africa opportunity. They use the exact same reservations software that we use at Happy Jack so there would be little, if any, training. We would both like to secure jobs, with free site and utilities, if possible.
Our manager here at the lodge also asked about our availability for November, since they are planning to go to the NASCAR event in Phoenix on the 13th and 14th and would like us to cover for them. They said we could stay in the apartment above the lodge and wouldn't have to bring our fifth wheel up for the weekend. The chances are pretty slim that we will be available since the weekends are the busiest time for campgrounds. Besides, we want to leave the cold weather behind starting October 21.
Here's hoping that the day goes well and we can finally plan for the winter...
Our manager here at the lodge also asked about our availability for November, since they are planning to go to the NASCAR event in Phoenix on the 13th and 14th and would like us to cover for them. They said we could stay in the apartment above the lodge and wouldn't have to bring our fifth wheel up for the weekend. The chances are pretty slim that we will be available since the weekends are the busiest time for campgrounds. Besides, we want to leave the cold weather behind starting October 21.
Here's hoping that the day goes well and we can finally plan for the winter...
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Not So Cold But Windy
It only went down to 44 last night but we had high wind gusts of 31 MPH and .02" of rain. The sky is clear right now but the wind continues. The weather swings on the Rim at this time of year are pretty dramatic. It would be tough to be a weather person in this area.
A woman came into the store yesterday and said she and her family would like to leave two days earlier than their planned stay here. The reason was they didn't think it would be so cold here. She complained that her kids couldn't play outside because of the cold temperatures and wind. That's a first for us. I guess that happens a lot during this time of year.
It's getting so slow in the store now that it is difficult to find things to do to stay busy. Yesterday was so slow we only did $75 in store sales. That, combined with our credit card sales, created a total deposit of only $345. It would be tough to keep the business open at all if those kind of numbers continue. The last big business push will be later this week and weekend with the Arizona Elk Society function. We are still on target to leave here on October 21.
Tomorrow and Thursday will be used to get our rig in shape to move on. Also, we will go to Cottonwood to try and wrap up a job for Josie and to get her eye checked at the doctor's office. The uncertainty right now is making us a little uncomfortable but we know things will work out. Everybody has a certain amount of uncertainty in his/her life so it's really no different for us. It makes life exciting, doesn't it?
Until tomorrow...
A woman came into the store yesterday and said she and her family would like to leave two days earlier than their planned stay here. The reason was they didn't think it would be so cold here. She complained that her kids couldn't play outside because of the cold temperatures and wind. That's a first for us. I guess that happens a lot during this time of year.
It's getting so slow in the store now that it is difficult to find things to do to stay busy. Yesterday was so slow we only did $75 in store sales. That, combined with our credit card sales, created a total deposit of only $345. It would be tough to keep the business open at all if those kind of numbers continue. The last big business push will be later this week and weekend with the Arizona Elk Society function. We are still on target to leave here on October 21.
Tomorrow and Thursday will be used to get our rig in shape to move on. Also, we will go to Cottonwood to try and wrap up a job for Josie and to get her eye checked at the doctor's office. The uncertainty right now is making us a little uncomfortable but we know things will work out. Everybody has a certain amount of uncertainty in his/her life so it's really no different for us. It makes life exciting, doesn't it?
Until tomorrow...
Monday, October 12, 2009
Back to Happy Jack
After a nice breakfast that Cheryl prepared for us, we headed back to Happy Jack at about 8:30. We stopped at the Paradise Bakery up the street from their house to grab a vanilla latte for the road. It's been awhile since we've had one of those. We really enjoyed our visit with everybody and made us wish that we could get on a plane and visit with Patty, Mark and our grand kids. Our plan all along is to try to get to Chicago to visit them between jobs if we can manage that.
We were back to work at noon and had a fairly busy afternoon. The weekends are still busy at the store and the lodge but today will see us start a week that will be dead until Wednesday. That's when the Arizona Elk Society comes in to conduct their Youth Elk Hunt Camp. It will be be super busy from Wednesday through Sunday and that's the main reason Josie and I are staying around. Chi Chi said we will still have our normal days off on Wednesday and Thursday, so that will be interesting since he and Jamie have to cover those days alone.
We're still waiting to hear from our Cottonwood connections about work. Our best shot, we feel, is from the Out of Africa people. Josie will have a meeting with them on either Wednesday or Thursday. In the meantime, we are still sending our resume out to other parks that are advertising on the Workamper Hotline. The lessons we learned this year about searching for winter jobs have been invaluable. Sometime, we will review that process in another blog entry, but that's it for now...
We were back to work at noon and had a fairly busy afternoon. The weekends are still busy at the store and the lodge but today will see us start a week that will be dead until Wednesday. That's when the Arizona Elk Society comes in to conduct their Youth Elk Hunt Camp. It will be be super busy from Wednesday through Sunday and that's the main reason Josie and I are staying around. Chi Chi said we will still have our normal days off on Wednesday and Thursday, so that will be interesting since he and Jamie have to cover those days alone.
We're still waiting to hear from our Cottonwood connections about work. Our best shot, we feel, is from the Out of Africa people. Josie will have a meeting with them on either Wednesday or Thursday. In the meantime, we are still sending our resume out to other parks that are advertising on the Workamper Hotline. The lessons we learned this year about searching for winter jobs have been invaluable. Sometime, we will review that process in another blog entry, but that's it for now...
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Short Work Day & Trip to Peoria
Our work day was short for once. We were pushed out at about noon to get ready for our trip to Peoria to George and Cheryl's house. It was already mentioned that we bagged the side trip to our storage unit because there was just no time to sort through our stuff and decide what needed to be taken there. We were on the road by 1:30.
It was a great afternoon and evening visiting with everybody - George, Cheryl, Cot and Lois, and of course, Brian and his family. It was his 40th birthday celebration and we had a great meal with an ice cream cake for dessert. Below are a couple shots of the dinner table and Brian's cake:
It was a great afternoon and evening visiting with everybody - George, Cheryl, Cot and Lois, and of course, Brian and his family. It was his 40th birthday celebration and we had a great meal with an ice cream cake for dessert. Below are a couple shots of the dinner table and Brian's cake:
Everybody was gone by about 8:30 and we turned in shortly after 9:30. It was a fun time and wished we could see everybody more often. Since we will be in Cottonwood, for the short term at least, maybe we can see everybody again before we hit the road to ??.
We will have breakfast this AM and head back to Happy Jack for work about 8:30. We don't expect an eventful day at work since we will be working another short day. We don't look forward to going back to the cold and are anxious to move down the hill to Cottonwood (Camp Verde) in a couple weeks where it's warm. Hopefully, we can locate a good Workamping opportunity sometime soon.
Josie's eye is getting better so that's good news. So much for now...
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Continuing the Cottonwood Saga
Following the visit to the Southwestern Eye Center in Cottonwood we made a call to Out of Africa to see if the meeting that Josie had scheduled with the owner could be moved up to the morning. She had to leave a message so we decided to get some breakfast at Denny's and just stop by to see if she could talk to them. It turns out that the owner had to be in Phoenix today so she talked again with the Manager who is very anxious for her to start. We dropped off the application and Josie left it that the Manager will call her to set up the meeting with the owner next week.
We started out with the plan that Cottonwood would definitely get us out of the cold weather for the winter and allow us to stay for free at a location where we could continue to search for a winter gig in a place we would like to spend some time. Cottonwood fits the bill for providing us the free space and all hookups, and still will provide some income - hopefully. Out of Africa is between the two parks - one mile from Western Horizon and four miles from Thousand Trails - so the commute to work for Josie would be almost nothing. We stopped there a couple years ago and never went through the park since it cost like $35 per person and you needed to have at least 5 hours to see the whole park. It was late in the afternoon so we never went inside. If Josie gets a job there, the cost would be free, and her family and friends will also get in for free as part of her benefits. Not too bad.
Our plan today was to get off work a little early and head down to the Valley to go to our storage unit and visit with George and Cheryl. It is our nephew Brian's 40th birthday dinner and Cot & Lois will also be there. Since we haven't had any time to sort through our "stuff" to take to the storage unit, we decided to bag that part of the trip. Since we will probably be in Cottonwood and still pretty close to the Valley, we thought we could do that part later.
Josie is still having discomfort with her eye but at least she got some sleep last night. The doctor said it would be a few days before the pain is gone. That's about it for now...
We started out with the plan that Cottonwood would definitely get us out of the cold weather for the winter and allow us to stay for free at a location where we could continue to search for a winter gig in a place we would like to spend some time. Cottonwood fits the bill for providing us the free space and all hookups, and still will provide some income - hopefully. Out of Africa is between the two parks - one mile from Western Horizon and four miles from Thousand Trails - so the commute to work for Josie would be almost nothing. We stopped there a couple years ago and never went through the park since it cost like $35 per person and you needed to have at least 5 hours to see the whole park. It was late in the afternoon so we never went inside. If Josie gets a job there, the cost would be free, and her family and friends will also get in for free as part of her benefits. Not too bad.
Our plan today was to get off work a little early and head down to the Valley to go to our storage unit and visit with George and Cheryl. It is our nephew Brian's 40th birthday dinner and Cot & Lois will also be there. Since we haven't had any time to sort through our "stuff" to take to the storage unit, we decided to bag that part of the trip. Since we will probably be in Cottonwood and still pretty close to the Valley, we thought we could do that part later.
Josie is still having discomfort with her eye but at least she got some sleep last night. The doctor said it would be a few days before the pain is gone. That's about it for now...
Friday, October 9, 2009
Cottonwood, Emergency, Cottonwood and No Time
First of all, we decided to go to Cottonwood yesterday instead of Payson since we wanted to try to talk to some of the campgrounds and other places that may be possibilities for us to work the winter and not be too far from Happy Jack for our return next summer. We stopped at two very good campgrounds - Distant Drums which is directly across the freeway from the Cliff Castle Casino (Josie likes the location - ha), and the Dead Horse Ranch State Park in Cottonwood. Both places indicated that there may be a possibility for employment but could not promise anything. We stopped at the Verizon store and reactivated our Verizon account - yeah! - since the merger is now complete and we can get reception with a new roaming program. It works! Our next stop was at the Out of Africa park along route 260 between I-17 and Cottonwood. These people were ecstatic to talk to Josie since they have been craving a bi-lingual customer service person and had a sign at the admission counter stating that they were hiring a bi-lingual customer service person. They could hardly wait to get her application and arrange for a meeting with the owner, which was scheduled for today. This is an opportunity, right now at least, for Josie only but could work out for us in the short term.
Along with this activity in Cottonwood, I made reservations at both the Thousand Trails campground and Western Horizon campground, which are 5 miles apart on route 260 between I-17 and Cottonwood. We have reservations at those two campgrounds from October 21 (our projected last day at Happy Jack) until January 9th - at no cost to us since we are members of both. The deal is we can stay 21 days at Thousand Trails and go to Western Horizon Park for 14 Days, and repeat the process for an unlimited time. If one of the other two campgrounds can offer us a position to work a certain number of hours for our space and hookups, I could satisfy that requirement and we would cancel those reservations and not have to move. Moving back and forth every few weeks is really no problem though as that is the way we hope to travel in the future - a couple weeks here, a couple weeks there. Right now it is important that Josie work for both Social Security benefits and to pay for medical insurance.
We didn't finish in Cottonwood until late in the afternoon and we came home to have dinner and watch a little TV before bedtime. Josie was going through her (monthly?) exercise of dying her hair when suddenly I heard this scream from the bathroom. It sounded like she cut off an arm. She accidentally got a swatch of her hair dye in her eye and was screaming for help. We washed out the eye with water for about 30 minutes and also put in some eye lubricant - Refresh Tears - to try to calm her down. The burning stopped but she felt pain every time she moved her eye.
After a sleepless night, she said she needed to see a doctor this morning and I fully understood. The information on the dye container said that it could cause blindness if it got into the eye. Since it appears that we will be going to Cottonwood for the winter, we searched for doctors there, and found a good one at the Southwestern Eye Center in Cottonwood. I took the laptop with me and anticipated writing the blog this morning while she was being treated in the office. No way. She asked me to accompany her through the procedures and we were out of there in 45 minutes. Unbelievable for an emergency situation. We've never seen better service in any medical facility. Josie has a burn on her cornea that caused the pain and they put a contact lens in her eye to ease the pain by eliminating the friction from her eyelid on the cornea, along with some prescribed medication. We called Chi Chi and Jamie and switched shifts with them so we went right to work when we returned.
I will continue the saga tomorrow so that this entry doesn't get too long...
Along with this activity in Cottonwood, I made reservations at both the Thousand Trails campground and Western Horizon campground, which are 5 miles apart on route 260 between I-17 and Cottonwood. We have reservations at those two campgrounds from October 21 (our projected last day at Happy Jack) until January 9th - at no cost to us since we are members of both. The deal is we can stay 21 days at Thousand Trails and go to Western Horizon Park for 14 Days, and repeat the process for an unlimited time. If one of the other two campgrounds can offer us a position to work a certain number of hours for our space and hookups, I could satisfy that requirement and we would cancel those reservations and not have to move. Moving back and forth every few weeks is really no problem though as that is the way we hope to travel in the future - a couple weeks here, a couple weeks there. Right now it is important that Josie work for both Social Security benefits and to pay for medical insurance.
We didn't finish in Cottonwood until late in the afternoon and we came home to have dinner and watch a little TV before bedtime. Josie was going through her (monthly?) exercise of dying her hair when suddenly I heard this scream from the bathroom. It sounded like she cut off an arm. She accidentally got a swatch of her hair dye in her eye and was screaming for help. We washed out the eye with water for about 30 minutes and also put in some eye lubricant - Refresh Tears - to try to calm her down. The burning stopped but she felt pain every time she moved her eye.
After a sleepless night, she said she needed to see a doctor this morning and I fully understood. The information on the dye container said that it could cause blindness if it got into the eye. Since it appears that we will be going to Cottonwood for the winter, we searched for doctors there, and found a good one at the Southwestern Eye Center in Cottonwood. I took the laptop with me and anticipated writing the blog this morning while she was being treated in the office. No way. She asked me to accompany her through the procedures and we were out of there in 45 minutes. Unbelievable for an emergency situation. We've never seen better service in any medical facility. Josie has a burn on her cornea that caused the pain and they put a contact lens in her eye to ease the pain by eliminating the friction from her eyelid on the cornea, along with some prescribed medication. We called Chi Chi and Jamie and switched shifts with them so we went right to work when we returned.
I will continue the saga tomorrow so that this entry doesn't get too long...
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Day in Prescott
We didn't think it would take as long as it did to travel to Prescott and do our errands that we had planned. It was 11 AM by the time we finally got started and didn't get home until 8 PM last night. We stopped at Costco and renewed our membership and downgraded it to a regular business membership and saved $54 on the annual membership fee. We spent a lot of time there since we haven't been to a Costco for so long. It was nice to see all the new "stuff" that they have now. Our shopping at Costco is really dictated by the amount of storage we have in the fifth wheel. Most of what Costco sells is in such large quantities that it doesn't make sense for us to buy. There are still many things that are so much cheaper that you have to buy.
The next stop was to Walmart where we had to fill a prescription for Josie. That did not go well. The company that Josie gets her COBRA insurance from (Phoenix Flower Shops), changed providers during there annual insurance review and the new provider doesn't have Walmart on their list of network pharmacies. Can you believe it? One of the largest pharmacy networks in the country is not approved. Anyway, she has to go to a CVS, Walgreen's, Safeway or Fry's to get her prescription filled. We did some other shopping while we were there. We then stopped at a Walgreen's and the line was so long at the counter that we bagged that.
Then it was off to Alltel to do battle again. It seems like almost every trip we make to somewhere, we have to locate an Alltel store to fix a problem. This time it was to pay the bill for our data card which, for some reason, we can't pay online. Alltel will only recognize our prepaid phone account and won't allow us to establish an online account for the data card. How dumb is that? We can't wait to get our Verizon phones and account back.
With all the frustration we had we then decided to have dinner and stopped at a Streets of New York restaurant and had a great meal. They had a special for pasta meals where you get one entree free if you order two from the pasta menu. We had a lasagna and a ravioli meal, a pitcher of beer, and walked out after spending $17 for the whole meal.
Our last stop was at Fry's to get a flu shot and to do some final shopping and fill up on gas. By that time it was already dark and we headed home.
The plan today is to go to Payson, get Josie's prescription filled at Walgreen's and have service done on the Jeep. We also need to sort through our belongings to eliminate things we don't need to travel with and take them to our storage unit on the weekend. Sounds like a busy day...
The next stop was to Walmart where we had to fill a prescription for Josie. That did not go well. The company that Josie gets her COBRA insurance from (Phoenix Flower Shops), changed providers during there annual insurance review and the new provider doesn't have Walmart on their list of network pharmacies. Can you believe it? One of the largest pharmacy networks in the country is not approved. Anyway, she has to go to a CVS, Walgreen's, Safeway or Fry's to get her prescription filled. We did some other shopping while we were there. We then stopped at a Walgreen's and the line was so long at the counter that we bagged that.
Then it was off to Alltel to do battle again. It seems like almost every trip we make to somewhere, we have to locate an Alltel store to fix a problem. This time it was to pay the bill for our data card which, for some reason, we can't pay online. Alltel will only recognize our prepaid phone account and won't allow us to establish an online account for the data card. How dumb is that? We can't wait to get our Verizon phones and account back.
With all the frustration we had we then decided to have dinner and stopped at a Streets of New York restaurant and had a great meal. They had a special for pasta meals where you get one entree free if you order two from the pasta menu. We had a lasagna and a ravioli meal, a pitcher of beer, and walked out after spending $17 for the whole meal.
Our last stop was at Fry's to get a flu shot and to do some final shopping and fill up on gas. By that time it was already dark and we headed home.
The plan today is to go to Payson, get Josie's prescription filled at Walgreen's and have service done on the Jeep. We also need to sort through our belongings to eliminate things we don't need to travel with and take them to our storage unit on the weekend. Sounds like a busy day...
Wednesday, October 7, 2009
Dead at the Store
Yesterday was the absolute slowest day we've had at the store since we arrived. The total store business amounted to about $35 and with the credit card sales we had a total deposit of just over $200. Normal days in the summer were averaging $4,000, and more like $7,000 on weekends. We opened the store at 8 AM and didn't have our first sale until 10:30 - 2 bags of ice! The hours are going to be changed to 8 AM to 5 PM for weekdays now. There is only one more event scheduled - the Youth Elk Camp - on October 15 - 19. After that, it will be slow all the time until Spring with the exception of a lot of cabin business from hunters. There are only about 10 rigs in the campground now out of a total of 95 spaces. We closed the store at 5 PM and just as we were ready to leave, a gentleman walked up and needed a cabin for the night. That meant that we had to reopen the register and start a new shift so that we could process the paperwork. It turned out that his credit card declined and we had to turn him away. Bummer!
Today was a sleep in day for the first time in a week. Our plan is to go to Prescott and do our shopping and other errands. We received our Costco renewal notice yesterday and it included our annual Reward Gift that comes with the Executive Business Membership. We usually get a nice check but since we have been here and haven't visited a Costco since May, the check was very small. We will renew the membership again but will downgrade to the regular membership to save the $50 per year. Prescott has the nearest Costco so that's the main reason for going there instead of Payson or Flagstaff.
We'll have a nice, leisurely breakfast and head out about 10 AM.
Oh, and we had the RV Country repair people come out yesterday to look at our ice maker, which stopped working, and our water pump, which also stopped working. They are the folks that installed our new water system as you recall. They found that the ice maker motor is bad, and the water pump runs, but the pump doesn't produce any pressure to get water to the faucets. The ice maker is under warranty and they are getting a replacement for us, but the water pump supposedly is not covered under the three year warranty for the rig. The RV Country people are going to try to get the unit covered from the manufacturer anyway, but in the meantime, we had to pay for a new pump and await a reimbursement from the manufacturer. That was a nice $514 bill that we didn't anticipate.
Until tomorrow...
Today was a sleep in day for the first time in a week. Our plan is to go to Prescott and do our shopping and other errands. We received our Costco renewal notice yesterday and it included our annual Reward Gift that comes with the Executive Business Membership. We usually get a nice check but since we have been here and haven't visited a Costco since May, the check was very small. We will renew the membership again but will downgrade to the regular membership to save the $50 per year. Prescott has the nearest Costco so that's the main reason for going there instead of Payson or Flagstaff.
We'll have a nice, leisurely breakfast and head out about 10 AM.
Oh, and we had the RV Country repair people come out yesterday to look at our ice maker, which stopped working, and our water pump, which also stopped working. They are the folks that installed our new water system as you recall. They found that the ice maker motor is bad, and the water pump runs, but the pump doesn't produce any pressure to get water to the faucets. The ice maker is under warranty and they are getting a replacement for us, but the water pump supposedly is not covered under the three year warranty for the rig. The RV Country people are going to try to get the unit covered from the manufacturer anyway, but in the meantime, we had to pay for a new pump and await a reimbursement from the manufacturer. That was a nice $514 bill that we didn't anticipate.
Until tomorrow...
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Last Long Day Today
Today will be our last day of the "marathon". We closed yesterday at 5 PM as the business has really dropped off in the store. Chi Chi and Jaymie arrived in the afternoon and they will be taking their normal days off this week - Monday and Tuesday - and we will have our normal days off of Wednesday and Thursday.
This week we plan to go through the fifth wheel and try to downsize the weight in preparation for our departure. We brought a lot of stuff up to Happy Jack from our shed that was on the space in Surprise, and now we need to sort through what we really need and what can be returned to storage. One thing we discovered is that as long as we are given uniforms to wear for work, we don't need a lot of our clothes. We also have some files that are heavy and just take up space. Our plan is to drop by the storage space in Surprise after work on Saturday, then visit at my brother George's house in Peoria Saturday night and come home on Sunday AM in time for work. We haven't seen George or Cheryl since we arrived here and look forward to seeing them before we possibly leave the area. Close friends Cot and Lois will also be there.
There is still one more big event that is taking place at the lodge. Next week, October 15th thru the 19th, the Arizona Elk Society is conducting a youth camp. We are booked solid in all the cabins and the campground is about 50% booked. They will conduct seminars, set up an archery range and provide assistance to all youth that take an elk during the cow elk season that begins on the 15th. We will also have the restaurant open during that period so it will again be busy before the season officially ends. Jamie again indicated yesterday that if we haven't found work by the end of the month, we could stay on, but with reduced hours. That would be ok except that we want to leave the cold weather that is beginning to move in. Brrr! It's 26 again this morning.
So long for now...
This week we plan to go through the fifth wheel and try to downsize the weight in preparation for our departure. We brought a lot of stuff up to Happy Jack from our shed that was on the space in Surprise, and now we need to sort through what we really need and what can be returned to storage. One thing we discovered is that as long as we are given uniforms to wear for work, we don't need a lot of our clothes. We also have some files that are heavy and just take up space. Our plan is to drop by the storage space in Surprise after work on Saturday, then visit at my brother George's house in Peoria Saturday night and come home on Sunday AM in time for work. We haven't seen George or Cheryl since we arrived here and look forward to seeing them before we possibly leave the area. Close friends Cot and Lois will also be there.
There is still one more big event that is taking place at the lodge. Next week, October 15th thru the 19th, the Arizona Elk Society is conducting a youth camp. We are booked solid in all the cabins and the campground is about 50% booked. They will conduct seminars, set up an archery range and provide assistance to all youth that take an elk during the cow elk season that begins on the 15th. We will also have the restaurant open during that period so it will again be busy before the season officially ends. Jamie again indicated yesterday that if we haven't found work by the end of the month, we could stay on, but with reduced hours. That would be ok except that we want to leave the cold weather that is beginning to move in. Brrr! It's 26 again this morning.
So long for now...
Monday, October 5, 2009
Still Windy
We've heard that the Rim area - actually the whole high country - can get pretty windy at times. We now know it's true. The wind blew all day yesterday (34 MPH high gust), blew all night long and still is pretty strong (26 MPH) this morning. This is the first time though that we've an extended period of windy weather. The temperatures are staying fairly mild, so that's the good news.
Yesterday also completed our fourth day of all day work. It ended the pay period for the week and even though we missed the first three days of the work week while in Vegas, we still clocked 37 hours (each) for the week. That is after deducting our breaks each day. We heard from Chi Chi and Jaymie yesterday, and they asked us to do it one more day, if we don't mind, so they can extend their Vegas trip one more day. Sure, bring it on. Our schedule is not determined yet for this week, but will be when they return tonight.
We are really getting "hitch-itch" now and are anxious to go to the next location. Our next job is still up in the air but we hope to have something solidified within the next week. We hope so...
Yesterday also completed our fourth day of all day work. It ended the pay period for the week and even though we missed the first three days of the work week while in Vegas, we still clocked 37 hours (each) for the week. That is after deducting our breaks each day. We heard from Chi Chi and Jaymie yesterday, and they asked us to do it one more day, if we don't mind, so they can extend their Vegas trip one more day. Sure, bring it on. Our schedule is not determined yet for this week, but will be when they return tonight.
We are really getting "hitch-itch" now and are anxious to go to the next location. Our next job is still up in the air but we hope to have something solidified within the next week. We hope so...
Sunday, October 4, 2009
Weather Changes
The biggest news since yesterday is in the weather change. It has warmed up a bit but the winds have picked up. We had gusts up to 23 MPH yesterday and already this morning we hit 27 MPH. The clouds are low and moving fast so it looks like an interesting day.
Today is our fourth day of ten plus hours on the job. So far, we've balanced the cash and credit cards to the penny each day which is rather rare. Sometimes, when it gets busy in the store, we'll wait to record a transaction so that we can give faster service to people. This can result in not recording transactions at all if you get behind too many and omit one or two. This usually happens when we have a lot of dump business mixed in with other store transactions. While waiting on customers at the counter, we sometimes take the $8 dumping fee from a walk-in and put it in the register while finishing with the store customer and forget to record it.
We discovered that the phone message we thought was from Friday was actually from Tuesday, and from a different location than Grover Beach. We are so sick of the poor service we are getting from our Alltel prepaid phone. You may remember we stopped into the Alltel store in Flagstaff to report that our phone messages were not getting to us for several days. Well, the problem has returned. The place we received the message from had hired someone else since we didn't get back to them in a timely manner. The message was from a place we were lukewarm about anyway. Good thing. The Grover Beach opportunity is still alive though. We haven't heard anything from them as yet. We will just have to carry the phone everywhere since we cannot afford to miss any more calls.
That's about it for now. I had to interrupt this post to take "Mystique" out for a walk. Now I know why we don't have a dog...
Today is our fourth day of ten plus hours on the job. So far, we've balanced the cash and credit cards to the penny each day which is rather rare. Sometimes, when it gets busy in the store, we'll wait to record a transaction so that we can give faster service to people. This can result in not recording transactions at all if you get behind too many and omit one or two. This usually happens when we have a lot of dump business mixed in with other store transactions. While waiting on customers at the counter, we sometimes take the $8 dumping fee from a walk-in and put it in the register while finishing with the store customer and forget to record it.
We discovered that the phone message we thought was from Friday was actually from Tuesday, and from a different location than Grover Beach. We are so sick of the poor service we are getting from our Alltel prepaid phone. You may remember we stopped into the Alltel store in Flagstaff to report that our phone messages were not getting to us for several days. Well, the problem has returned. The place we received the message from had hired someone else since we didn't get back to them in a timely manner. The message was from a place we were lukewarm about anyway. Good thing. The Grover Beach opportunity is still alive though. We haven't heard anything from them as yet. We will just have to carry the phone everywhere since we cannot afford to miss any more calls.
That's about it for now. I had to interrupt this post to take "Mystique" out for a walk. Now I know why we don't have a dog...
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Two Down
Yesterday was a fairly busy day considering that we are supposed to be winding down the season. In fact, we had almost as many phone calls for reservations as we would have in the summer. Most of the calls were from hunters trying to line up a cabin for the many days of hunting season. With archery, muzzle loader and rifle seasons for elk and deer, the hunting season runs into December. Anyway, we are halfway into our marathon work schedule of four days of 7:30 to 6 PM.
The temperature was much more reasonable last night. It only got down to 37 during the night last night and is at 51 this morning. The day is dawning with lots of clouds so I'm sure that's the reason.
The plan was to fill our water tank and turn off the water at the outside faucet during the night to prevent the hose from freezing. the tank was filled but we discovered our water pump is not working. Great. There could have been a problem that was created when the new water system was installed this summer. We will call the RV repair service that did that installation. In the meantime, we will leave the kitchen faucet on slightly during the night to create a steady water flow so the hose doesn't freeze.
We had a call yesterday from a nice RV park in California that is on the ocean at Grover Beach, south of Pismo Beach, that may be a possibility for us. We hope to get more information this weekend. Most of these places don't have the management working on weekends but we'll try to get a hold of them anyway. It sounds like it could be a good fit for us. Until tomorrow...
The temperature was much more reasonable last night. It only got down to 37 during the night last night and is at 51 this morning. The day is dawning with lots of clouds so I'm sure that's the reason.
The plan was to fill our water tank and turn off the water at the outside faucet during the night to prevent the hose from freezing. the tank was filled but we discovered our water pump is not working. Great. There could have been a problem that was created when the new water system was installed this summer. We will call the RV repair service that did that installation. In the meantime, we will leave the kitchen faucet on slightly during the night to create a steady water flow so the hose doesn't freeze.
We had a call yesterday from a nice RV park in California that is on the ocean at Grover Beach, south of Pismo Beach, that may be a possibility for us. We hope to get more information this weekend. Most of these places don't have the management working on weekends but we'll try to get a hold of them anyway. It sounds like it could be a good fit for us. Until tomorrow...
Friday, October 2, 2009
What Happened to Fall?
When I first got up this morning the first thing I noticed was there was no water. Uh Oh! I knew right away that the temperature had dropped big time and the water was probably frozen in the hose outside. Sure enough, the weather station showed a high today of 28 degrees at 12:01 AM and a low of 23 degrees - right now! We should have been prepared for this but we were not. We should have put water in our holding tank and turned off the water at the outside faucet before going to bed. Or, we could have left a faucet on a slow drip all night. Now, we have to wait for the temperature to rise later this morning. Oh, well - another lesson learned.
We were at the lodge at 7:30 AM yesterday to get pictures of Chi Chi and Jaymie leaving on their bikes for Vegas. They were on time and ready to go:
We were at the lodge at 7:30 AM yesterday to get pictures of Chi Chi and Jaymie leaving on their bikes for Vegas. They were on time and ready to go:
They had a chilly ride until they got off the rim, probably at Seligman, AZ. It's a long ride on bikes but they've done it before. we hope they have a great time.
Along with our duties of running the lodge while they're gone, we have the added responsibility of baby sitting Mystique, their Maltese dog. She is a real joy though. She has to be on somebody's lap all the time or rubbing against somebody. Josie took this shot while watching TV last night.
Actually, we only have her at night as she spends the day in her own trailer, surrounded by familiar toys and pillows, and we bring her to ours after work. Josie walks her a couple times during the day and feeds her at her own trailer.
Today is another long day and we'll have to get our water situation fixed sometime during the day after the sun warms up the hose. That's about it for now...
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Great Ending to Trip
We slept in for our final morning in Vegas. It was about 9:30 when we finally got things together to leave. We decided to take $100 of our winnings and try one last go at the casino after we checked out. Josie took $50 and Bob took $50. After playing until about 1 PM, we left the casino with the original $100. All in all, the casinos were very friendly to us for the whole trip. We stopped in Flagstaff on the way home to deposit our "winnings" in the bank and to buy some groceries.
We arrived in Happy Jack at 7 PM and met with Jaymie who reviewed the status of everything at the lodge. She said that it had been very slow while we were gone and that we should use our judgement on opening and closing times. This morning we will be at the store at 7:30 to get pictures of Jaymie and Chi Chi on their bikes as they leave for Vegas for their 4 day bike rally. There are expected to be in the neighborhood of 30,000 bikes in Vegas for the rally. We're glad we will miss that spectacle. We will also take care of their little dog, Mystique, while they are gone.
It looks like even more of our seasonal customers have left for the winter. There are a lot of empty spaces now around our fifth wheel. The weather is turning cooler and the days are getting shorter so decisions need to be made pretty soon about where we are going. We do expect these decisions to get easier though as time goes on. For example, we do know we can come back here next summer - in fact the management is counting on it. Things will work out.
Later...
We arrived in Happy Jack at 7 PM and met with Jaymie who reviewed the status of everything at the lodge. She said that it had been very slow while we were gone and that we should use our judgement on opening and closing times. This morning we will be at the store at 7:30 to get pictures of Jaymie and Chi Chi on their bikes as they leave for Vegas for their 4 day bike rally. There are expected to be in the neighborhood of 30,000 bikes in Vegas for the rally. We're glad we will miss that spectacle. We will also take care of their little dog, Mystique, while they are gone.
It looks like even more of our seasonal customers have left for the winter. There are a lot of empty spaces now around our fifth wheel. The weather is turning cooler and the days are getting shorter so decisions need to be made pretty soon about where we are going. We do expect these decisions to get easier though as time goes on. For example, we do know we can come back here next summer - in fact the management is counting on it. Things will work out.
Later...
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