Ballad of Cat Ballou

The whole day was spent watching the clock so that we could get off work and go into town to the Jackson Hole Playhouse to have dinner and see the show, the Ballad of Cat Ballou.

Our tickets were for the VIP seating - why not go all out for Josie's birthday - so we wanted to get there early for our 5:30 PM seating for dinner. We arrived in plenty of time (5PM), parked the car nearby and took this shot of the theater:

We walked into the theater and were greeted with the news that there was a tour that was going to be seated for the 5:30 PM dinner seating, and they asked us to return at 6:20 PM for our dinner seating. Not a good start. They suggested that we walk the 2 blocks to the Town Square where the nightly shootout was going to take place at 6 PM. We've been wanting to catch this shootout anyway, so we went to the town square:

and grabbed a seat at one of 4 antler arches that were on each corner of the square:

By the way, one of these arches is being rebuilt at a cost of $80-100K to replace deteriorating antlers.

The crowds started to build and the shootout was performed by none other than the cast of the show we were about to see:

and the whole shootout story was centered around Cat Ballou:

The Mayor of the town was cleaning up corruption - from the balcony of the building on the corner: - as he spoke to the outlaws below:

and the shooting started:

After everybody - except Cat Ballou and her friend - was dead, the shootout ended and we went back to the theater for our dinner. We had no idea, really, what the extra $40 it cost us for the VIP tickets was going to buy for us. We were seated like everybody else in the Saloon and had a very good dinner at our table for two:

followed by some entertainment from the waiters during the cleanup after the meal. I had the joy of being sung to by our waitress, who played the part of Leggs Whooshey in the show:

We then discovered the difference between the regular tickets and the VIP tickets. We were escorted to the front row in the theater where we had center seats for the show. It was not the best lighting for pictures, but we took several shots of the highly entertaining and very well done performance:

We were also given free popcorn, free program and a free drink during the show. The show was fantastic, the dinner was excellent and the whole evening was a blast. Josie also enjoyed the whole evening and it was a wonderful way to spend her birthday. Was it worth the extra money? Probably not, but I ended up with Cat Ballou on my lap as a result of having a front row seat. The theater held probably 200-300 people, so our seats were the best in the house. As long as Josie enjoyed the evening - and she did - it was a great way to celebrate her birthday.

It's back to work at 3 PM today for 2 more days. We are awaiting word on our truck, so the plans for our days off are not finalized yet...

Olympics

Work yesterday was overshadowed by the Olympics coverage on TV. This is the time when we really can't get enough TV and it is exciting to watch our team overcome long odds to win medals. The swimming events seem to be our strong suit and it looks like we will do OK in gymnastics too. The next 2 weeks will be fun watching how we do against the Chinese who seem to have replaced the Russians as our Olympic enemy #1.

It was a relaxing night as we watched the Olympic coverage and grilled a couple pork chops on the grill to have with our twice-baked potatoes. While watching the TV, we spotted some deer grazing behind the fifth wheel, and we were able to get a couple shots, but this one seemed to be the best:

We also took a shot of the County Fair that ended last night. It didn't look like the fairs we were used to going to so we passed on that this year. Maybe if we are invited back next year, and we come again, we will do the fair. This is the way it looked from the back of our rig:

Today is the last of the day shift scheduled this week and we have big plans for tonight - we are going to the Playhouse Theater in town for dinner and to watch the presentation of Cat Ballou to celebrate Josie's birthday. Happy birthday to my wonderful wife...

Back to Work

It was the usual, fun time with Donna on the early shift yesterday. We enjoy working with her as there is always pleasant conversation and we all help out each other behind the front desk. We wish our schedule was with her all 5 of our days.

The crowds keep coming and we still fill up the Lodge each night. The phones are also still ringing all the time for reservations and we wonder when the phones will begin to slow down. Probably, not until at least mid August when the summer is winding down. They weren't kidding when they told us it can get very busy at times. We have one more day with Donna, today, and then with Chelsie tomorrow. She, as mentioned before, is the daughter of the manager (Judy) and is leaving for a 5 week visit to Costa Rica on Tuesday where she is taking a combination vacation and performing some humanitarian tasks. She has a degree in Anthropology, but has not found the right job in this area. Then we have our 2 dreaded days with Jim. Oh, well.

We heard from our friends Rodger and Sue last night, and they are working at a lodge in northwestern Maine where they have worked the last 2 summers. They plan to return again to Amazon in Campbellsville for the third straight year. We told them we are scheduled to work at Amazon in Fernley, but will most likely pass on that opportunity and try to find something in the south somewhere. It was at Campbellsville two years ago where we first met them. We talked for almost an hour and it was good to hear from them again.

That about sums it up from Jackson...

Decision Made

I received the final call from Ford Customer Care at around 11 AM yesterday. The conversation didn't last much longer than a few minutes as they rejected our request for help to replace the radiator in our truck. I was not happy, to say the least. With only 26,000 miles on the vehicle, they refused to provide any help to offset the cost for replacement. I am evaluating other options of consumer help-lines and action lines, but essentially, the battle is over. I will never purchase another Ford product and will not recommend purchase to anyone who asks my opinion in the future. The cost will be $1700+ and will place a significant dent in our budget. I will still purchase the extended warranty which will be another $2700 for 5 years coverage, bumper-to-bumper. The warranty can be included in any sale of the truck if any term remains, so that will, hopefully, be a wise decision. The dealer in Afton has been given the go ahead to do what is necessary to complete the job. Right now, it looks like we will go to Afton next Friday to pick up the vehicle and bring it home.

The sun eventually came out and we took a trip to a place we have been passing every time we go to the National Park. It is the National Museum of Wildlife Art. It sits on a bluff overlooking the National Elk Refuge, and we have been intrigued by the facility since we arrived in this area. The driveway at the foot of the hill has this display of bronze elk:

It is a modern building and after we paid our admission fee of $10 (each) proceeded to go through the three galleries they had inside. It was very interesting, as we took several shots of various displays, but only this one is worth publishing here and is typical of the rest:

It was a combination of paintings, bronze sculptures and occasional displays of the artists' studios. Outside displays were also present, an example of which is below:

Of course, I'm partial to anything that involves elk. It was not the kind of place we would visit a second time, but we were happy that we satisfied our curiosity.

While leaving the Museum, we decided to take the road on the opposite side of the Elk Refuge and visit the Miller House, which is one of the first homes in Jackson. We had a great view of the Museum from there as you can see near the bottom of the bluff:

The owner, Robert Miller, was the first supervisor of the Teton National Forest, and this was one of the largest homes in Jackson:

It was a beautiful cabin in its day, and even looked great today after some minor restoration. The cabin had a basement, which was - and is - rare in Jackson. His wife became Mayor of Jackson and for three years, with her other female appointments, became the first and only government in the country at that time that was totally run by females.

The day was not one of our best with the truck decision, but it ended on a good note and we look forward to more exploration in the days ahead...

Dinner Out

Most of the day was spent yesterday waiting to hear back on the truck repairs. By 2:30 PM we hadn't heard anything from either Ford or the dealer in Afton, so I called Ford for an update. It turned out that the request was elevated to the wrong department within Ford and they had to resubmit the request through the proper channel. Sheesh! The nice lady on the phone said that we would hear something back today. I phoned the dealer and he indicated that they hadn't heard anything either and they were putting together a parts list for Ford so they would know what is involved in the radiator replacement. I guess we will have to bite the bullet and pay for the replacement if Ford does not cover it. The risk is too great if they refuse the repair and I wait a couple months to get it done. I have heard that whoever does the repair under any 3rd party warranty will discover that the radiator was a pre-existing condition to the warranty and I would end up paying for it anyway. I would rather have the work done by Ford than any independent service facility.

The day was almost spent by the time this activity ended at 3:30 PM. We then decided to go out for dinner and try a different restaurant. We selected the "Merry Piglets Mexican Cantina". It is located only minutes from us in downtown and we were able to find a parking space at the Town Square in the center of town about a half block away from the restaurant. The Town Square is noted for it's beautiful park that includes 4 of these arches made from elk antlers:

The restaurant was only a few doors down from the Town Square:

 There was a line waiting to be seated but we finally got seated and had a very nice dinner with a couple Margaritas to go along with the meal. We had eaten at another Mexican restaurant in town and would rank this one slightly better, although the other one is also very nice.

Following dinner, we walked around town for awhile and took a couple shots of the crowd and the street while eating some ice cream we bought at the local ice cream parlor:

This final shot is of the park in Town Square where we parked:

I know you've heard it before, but I'll say it again - this is such a neat town!

The day today - so far at least - is cloudy and looks like it is threatening to rain. We wanted to go to another spot in the Grand Teton National Park for another hike, but we will wait awhile to see if it clears. We also expect to hear back on our truck decision, so the phone will be with us, whatever we do or wherever we go...

Granite Falls Hot Springs

Rather than waste the morning before going to work in the afternoon, we took a short trip to Granite Falls and Hot Springs. This is in an area where we have not explored at all, and is very close to the home of one of our co-workers - Donna. It is located about 30 miles from our location and was well worth the drive. The falls and hot springs are located about 10 miles off the main road through some typical, beautiful Wyoming countryside.

Here are some photos of our drive along the very well maintained dirt road:

We reached the Falls and walked a short distance from the road to view this unusual, but beautiful falls:

The hot springs were located a short drive from the falls where there was a swimming pool that was constructed in 1933. The sign below says it all about this special area:

Yes, that is 400" of snowfall each year. Unfortunately, we didn't bring our swim suits to enjoy the pool, but these photos give you a good idea of what it looks like:

The pool is located, seemingly, in the middle of nowhere. It is a mineral spring and no sulphur is present in the water. The pool is completely drained, cleaned and refilled every day and it drains into the creek that empties into the Hoback River that runs throughout the area. The Granite Falls and the river were used to film scenes in the movie "A River Runs Through It". Below is one of our shots of this creek, flowing alongside the pool:

The drive back out from the pool and hot springs was another look at this beautiful countryside from a different angle. We spotted a deer crossing the road but didn't get the camera ready in time to get a shot. We did get some shots on the way out that included these cattle that were grazing by the river and "spooked" by Josie when she tried to approach them:

and this thistle that was a first sighting for us:

When we reached the main road, we took a short drive to the town, Bondurant, where Donna lives to try and spot her home. We didn't know which home was hers, but the views were spectacular from the road as you can see below:

We will return to enjoy the pool someday soon, but the trip was a pleasant drive. We returned in plenty of time to start working at 3 PM.

Today is a bit of an unknown as we are awaiting final word on the truck decision from the Ford dealer in Afton. Our fingers are crossed and the rest of our time off this week depends on that decision. If Ford approves the replacement, we can schedule another hike for tomorrow. If Ford rejects covering the replacement, we will have to decide whether to bring it home or bite the bullet and have them repair it. At any rate, it's nice to be off for a couple days...

Truck Update

Early in the morning yesterday I received a call from the Ford dealer in Afton, WY, giving me an update on the talks with Ford regarding the radiator replacement. It wasn't good news. Our conversation started with the news that there was a "technical update" issued on our model of F450 some time ago which recommended that the coolant reservoir be replaced with a new "dual" reservoir setup which eliminates the problem that we had that caused the radiator failure.

They performed the reservoir replacement and told me that Ford had rejected any assistance to replace the radiator. I was not happy about that, to say the least. I told the folks at the dealership not to do any more work to replace the radiator until I had an opportunity to speak with the Ford Customer Service people again. The net of this second conversation with Ford is that they elevated the request to higher management for a decision. My argument is: why wasn't I informed of this "technical update" - it was not a recall - so that the problem could have been prevented, how can a vehicle with only 26,000 miles have this type of failure - regardless of age, and why would they approve a tow to a facility 55 miles away to have the same work performed that I could have done locally at the same cost to me if they weren't going to have the work covered by Ford, and done by Ford certified technicians? I expect to hear back again either today or tomorrow.

That pretty much consumed our free time before working yesterday afternoon. By the time all the conversations were done, it was too late to go anywhere and do something special before going to work.

All of the hype now is about the Olympics and the preparations and stories about the athletes. We love to watch them and figure that our DVR will be filling up with Olympics coverage now and will probably eat up some of our free time catching up on those events. We still will use the free days for other activities, but our evenings appear to be filling up with Olympics events.

Day 5 of our work week is today - TGIF - and we look forward to doing some fun and different things on Thursday and Friday...

County Fair Opens

Yesterday was the first full day for the Teton County Fair. The Fair will run through next Sunday and we hope to get a chance to go when we have some time off - maybe one of these days that we don't have to start work until 3 PM. It seems to be a little early in the year for a County Fair as we have been used to going to these later in the summer, and even into October in some areas. The summer season is shorter here than most places, so that probably is the reason. There are no big name entertainers coming so it doesn't matter to us that we may miss the evening concert, scheduled for Friday night. Then again, we may go on Friday since we have the whole day off.

I expect to hear something on our truck today as far as Ford's participation in covering the cost for replacement of the radiator. We have a plan, regardless of the decision. If Ford covers the replacement, we will obviously go ahead and have the work done asap. If Ford does not cover the replacement, we will go and pick up the truck, bring it back here, and let it sit until sometime in late September when we will have the work done on an extended warranty that we are purchasing this week. We will use the money that the replacement would cost us to put toward the warranty which is over half the cost for the 5 years, bumper-to-bumper warranty. The radiator would then be covered totally, except for a $100 deductible on the warranty. This is one time when we are grateful to have the Jeep as backup transportation.

Work doesn't begin today until 3 PM so we may just take a short trip to somewhere before starting. There is a waterfall just south of us that we heard about and want to see, so maybe today is the day for that...

Trying to Work on Priorities

The mode that we are in now is establishing priorities for the near term. That means, in addition to resolving the problem with the truck radiator, trying to determine where our next move will be. We are on the lookout for a real good opportunity in AZ where we can stay in a nice, warm climate, and still be able to accomplish some consolidation. By that, I mean we have to eliminate, if possible, the storage units we now have in 2 locations. Right now, we only have the job in Fernley, NV (near Reno) at Amazon.com in the bag. That is not the preferred option however. We keep hearing horror stories about the weather in that area during November and December. Besides, the 50 mile round trip to work from the only available campground in the area is not enticing. In order to accomplish the goal of consolidating our storage units, we need to get closer to them.

There was one opportunity that we briefly considered in Camp Verde, AZ. We stayed in this campground (Rancho Verde RV Park) for a short time while we were in the area a couple years ago. The problem with that was that they are looking for permanent managers and assistant managers. The job and location fit, but we aren't looking for long term employment.

We are in discussions with the new owners of the lot that we rented in Happy Trails in Surprise in 2008. They now own the lot that Carole and Dick owned at that time but had to give up since Dick became ill. That is a good option if we can find employment in the area. There is plenty of time to work out our next move, but we always try to stay at least one season ahead so we can plan for the move. In the meantime, we will continue to enjoy our present location and hope we get asked back again next year...

Slammed at Work

This is without a doubt the busy season in Jackson, WY. Aside from selling out the rooms every night, the phones just about ring off the hook during the whole shift every day. There were times yesterday when we had people waiting to check out and all three phones were ringing. It got so busy that we went long stretches between casual conversation among us at the front desk. We closed out our shift yesterday with close to a $20,000 deposit. It has been around that figure each day.

The owners of the lodge own this property outright and do not have any encumbrances at all on either the lodge or the RV park. The RV park takes in about another $10,000 per day. We had heard that the owners - Glen and Virginia (last name escapes me) - were nearly billionaires when Glen died in the 1990's. Virginia still lives in the San Diego area and is not hurting for cash. Of course, these facilities make 90 % of their income during these summer months  - June through September - so when you spread the income over 12 months, it isn't such an impressive total. I wouldn't mind being an absentee owner of a place like this.

The main activity - for me, at least - during our free time this weekend is to catch up on the play at the British Open Golf tournament. With the 12 hour time difference, the play is concluded by the time we get off work at 3 PM. What did we do before DVR where we can record these shows? Josie could care less, but I really enjoy watching these major tournaments. She does her best to not show her disinterest, but I know she will be glad when the tournament ends today.

Day number 2 this week is today, so it's time to get ready. The time goes faster when we are busy, so I'm hoping for another busy day...

Another Trip to Idaho Falls

Our abbreviated trip to Idaho took us to Idaho Falls for the second time. This time, we went to a different part of town to go to Sam's Club and a different Walmart. Also, this time we saw a better part of Idaho Falls and have changed our opinion of the town. This time, we went through more of the residential areas and less of the down-town and saw some real nice neighborhoods and even the hills that are outside of town.

The primary goal for this trip was to price tires for the Jeep at both Sam's Club and Walmart to see if we could get a good deal. Initially, we thought a national chain like Big O tires would be a good location, but we discovered that both Sam's Club and Walmart offered the same tires as Big O, and for less money. We got the price for tires at Sam's Club and asked if all Walmarts would honor their warranty, and the answer surprised us. Walmart was not obligated to honor the warranties on Sam's Club tires, even though they are owned by the same company. That was a huge minus on the Sam's Club side. Walmart on the other hand, has stores in almost every larger town and each one that has a tire center would honor the warranty. That's a lot of coverage across the country. The price was right, and we bought 4 new tires at the Walmart store and also got haircuts there. Combined with getting the necessary items from Sam's Club, it was a successful trip.

I also made a call to the Ford dealership in Afton, WY, to make sure our truck arrived safely. It did, and there still is confidence at the dealership that Ford will cover the radiator repair. Our fingers are crossed for that decision which will come early in the week. I have a quote for an extended warranty on the truck which we will be purchasing if the repairs are covered. The money we would spend to perform the repairs ourselves would be more than half the cost of the warranty, so we'll see how that turns out.

Another week begins today as we start at 7 AM and work till 3 PM. I am looking forward to seeing round 3 of the British Open when we get off work today as it will be copied while we are at work. The neat thing about that is I can fast-forward through the copy and see it in half the time...

Truck Progress and Golf

I called the Ford Motor Company first thing in the morning yesterday. It was a good exchange with them as they didn't immediately reject my request for help to cover the radiator problem. Even though that specific component on the vehicle is out of warranty, they agreed that 26,000 miles is an unusually low mileage for this type of problem. Without agreeing to cover the total cost for a new radiator, they did commit to paying to have the vehicle towed from Jackson to Afton, WY - 55 miles - to the nearest Ford Dealer. The tow truck arrived at 11 AM and the driver was the General Manager from the Afton dealership. He is the son of the owner and he gave me hope that Ford would be covering the total cost. He indicated that this was a common problem with this vehicle and they have replaced many radiators as a result of a faulty 2 thermostat system that is installed with this engine. Evidently, one of the thermostats tends to "stick", and when it opens, the excessive pressure results in the damage to the radiator. He also indicated that Ford would not have contracted for him to travel from Afton, WY to pick up my truck if they weren't going to cover the repair. I hope he's right and I will follow up this morning with the dealership for an update.

The other activity yesterday was a round of golf with one of the workers here at the RV park. Duane picked me up at 3:45 to drive the approximately 30 miles to the Targhee Village Golf Course. It was almost on the state line between Idaho and Wyoming and was on the backside of the Grand Teton National Park. It was a great setting and a decent golf course. It was only a 9 hole course that you play twice for 18 holes, but the course was in great shape. It wasn't a difficult course - no sand traps, but several water holes. I didn't expect to play very well as I haven't played in about 4 years, but I was satisfied with the result. I shot 104 on this long course and had 5 pars. My friend Duane shot 113 so I didn't feel too bad. The best news was I only lost 1 ball. Even though it was a fun time, I probably won't be playing again for awhile since we like to use our days off doing things together while enjoying the area. I can play golf anywhere, but our time in this area is limited, so we want to enjoy it to the maximum.

It looks like we will do a "modified" trip to Idaho Falls today. We will only do the stop at Sam's Club and maybe Walmart and eliminate the extended portion to Pocatello and the visit to Costco and the casino. That will have to be another time. We want to make sure there is no expense with the truck repair before splurging on the extended portion of the trip. We'll have some breakfast and be on our way...

Truck Troubles

The main objective yesterday was to take the truck into the local dealership to have our water leak diagnosed. The dealership is a Dodge/Chrysler/Jeep dealership and not a Ford dealer, so I was a bit concerned not only about getting a proper diagnosis, but performing quality repairs on a Ford product. Unfortunately, the closest Ford dealer is in Afton, WY, which is 55 miles away. We were satisfied with our service on the Jeep, and given the fact that they work on Dodge Diesels, we thought we would give them a try.

The truck went in at 10 AM and I heard back from them at 12:30 with the bad news. They discovered that there was a leak in the radiator and the location of the leak prevented any repair and the only solution was a replacement radiator. The cost that was quoted is $1500+. I immediately called a Ford dealer to get a comparison cost, and it was $1600+ from him. Of course, the warranty is expired on the radiator.  I only have 26,000 miles on the truck but the standard warranty was 5 years or 50,000 miles on the power train and only 36 months or 36,000 miles on everything else. Bummer! I will contact Ford directly this morning to plead my case for getting some help on the replacement as it doesn't seem right that a radiator needs to be replaced at 26,000 miles, regardless of the age.

The truck problem has put a damper on our short term plans. The long trip to Pocatello, ID. and the visit to Costco is postponed. For sure, there is no visit to a casino planned. We'll know more later this morning.

I do have a golf date today which I will keep, and Josie will still get her pedicure and her hair done. Other than that, we'll determine the plan for tomorrow following the call to Ford. I guess that we shouldn't be too surprised that we have a problem with the truck as it is only used for the very heavy duty towing of our fifth wheel. However, that is what it is built for and is the reason we purchased this particular vehicle in the first place. It's difficult to accept that the quality is not what we anticipated. It could always be worse though, as we don't have to replace an engine which would be devastating...

Comparing to a Year Ago

While checking on our activities of a year ago, we were in Campbellsville, KY, working at Amazon.com. That was our marathon commitment that we made from July through most of December. While remembering how hot and humid it was and the struggle to adjust to the schedule of working nights, we are grateful to be here in a totally different, and better environment. I remember that every day following work at this time last year, we would undress as soon as we arrived home and put all our drenched clothes outside to dry from the sweat. Wow. Needless to say, it was an experience we won't soon forget. We did do some fun things though, and that is what this journey is all about.

We are planning out the days off this week and it looks like there will not be a hike this week. Normally, we would have planned one for Thursday, but I have a golf date scheduled and Josie will do her "girly" things of getting a pedicure and her hair done while I'm gone. It looks like Friday we will take our trip to Idaho to get some things done. We need to stop at the warehouse stores to pick up some things and we are probably going to get new tires for the Jeep at the Discount Tire store in Idaho Falls. That is the closest one to us and we have had excellent success with them as they are a national chain. Also, we will extend the drive to include Pocatello, ID, where we have not been and we can go to the Costco store there, which is the closest one to us. I hear that there is also a Casino on the way there (in Blackfoot, ID)... hmm.

This morning we have an appointment to have our truck checked for a water leak. I'm hoping that the problem doesn't involve an expensive fix, but we'll find out. The truck has been problem free so far, so we have our fingers crossed. Then, it's off to our final work day this week at 3 PM...

Sad News From Friends

Our day yesterday was saddened by an email from our friends at Happy Trails in Surprise, AZ. The couple - Carole and Dick Cole - own the lot next to the one we rented for almost one year in 2009. Carole indicated that she had to place Dick in a Hospice in Livonia, MI. (their hometown) so that he may get proper care for a condition that was just discovered - Lung Carcinoma with Boney Metastases. Since we were "tentatively" planning to spend most of the winter in AZ, we offered to help them to cover their expenses by renting their lot from them during the winter. However, we also found out that they had sold their lot to the owner of the lot next door to them. We last saw them in January while we were staying at Happy Trails during our training for the Holiday Retirement experience. We had breakfast at the Village Inn in Surprise:

We pray for Dick and Carole and know that they are near their family for help and support. They are a wonderful couple.

We are still in the storm track and had another couple of storms pass through yesterday. We have had 4 straight days of measurable rain and that is after having only 2 days of measurable rain in the whole month of June. We desperately need the moisture, so we can't complain. Besides, the temperatures become spring-like when it rains and that makes it very comfortable.

Our next 2 days at work are on the evening shift (3-11) and are not our favorite days. The hours are OK but, as mentioned previously, we don't especially like working with Jim. The good news is that we are only 2 days away from fun time...

Adjusting to Schedule

Our second day of the three "daytime" shifts was yesterday. We work the first two days (Sat and Sun) with Donna and we think those days go a lot faster than any of the others. Our third daytime shift is today and we work that with the manager's daughter, Chelsie. That isn't bad either, as she spends most of her time in the office working on situations with her mother. That leaves Josie and I at the front desk by ourselves for most of the day unless we need some help from one of them for a unique situation. These three days go pretty fast and we have a 24 hour break at the end of the shift today until we have to work our other two days on the evening shift. In other words, we have from 3 PM today until 3 PM tomorrow to rest and do other things before working the final two days with Jim. Those last two days are the longest for us as we prefer not to work with Jim. He is the individual that causes the most grief for us and is the 37 year old single guy who needs to mature a lot. At any rate, we are adjusting to the schedule and, for the most part, we enjoy the schedule the way it is set up at this time. One thing is for sure - when the day ends after our shift, it really ends. It's not like it was in Vista where we had to remain "on-call" during the evening and night, and anticipate a sleepless night.


That brings us to the next step of trying to plan out the schedule from here. We have the Amazon.com gig in our pocket (Fernley, NV) but prefer to find something in AZ where the weather is more to our liking. We have not found anything appealing yet, but are on the lookout. The winter jobs have always been tougher to find because the sun belt is where everybody wants to be in the winter months. There is lots of time left to finalize our next move. Our travels have led us to believe that this area - northwestern  Wyoming - is probably the area we would like to spend our summers. The chances of our returning to this area every summer are pretty good at this point. The next part of the equation is to locate a suitable winter spot so we can plan our future years for those months. The long term plan is beginning to take shape. One thing we will say is that we love to travel and the thought of settling in one place, at this point at least, is not a preferred choice...

No Cowboy Bar Yesterday

Last week we had agreed to go the Cowboy Bar with Donna - the girl we work weekends with - following work last night. Unfortunately, she had to go right home following work so she could get ready to leave to visit her daughters in Utah after work today. It looks like we will do that after work next Saturday afternoon. This is a place that Josie and I have been wanting to visit but have been busy going other places and haven't made it there yet. It is suppose to be a real experience.

It was an unusual day at work yesterday. We had an abnormal number of unique situations with guests. One lady informed us that she discovered a "used" condom under her bed when she arose in the morning. She was upset, to say the least, and we were embarrassed that housekeeping hadn't discovered it while cleaning. Another indicated the bed was too hard and wanted us to purchase one of those "foam" mattresses to place on the bed. No way, as that is not a complaint we've had before. This person then suggested that they could instead use 6 or 8 additional pillows to sleep on. That was also a no-no as we didn't want to waste extra pillows nor have somebody's "butt" against pillows that people would use for sleeping. Another couple came in to inform us that they were low on money and wanted to check in later in the day by paying $200 cash for their 2 night stay. That won't fly either as the reservation was booked through a third party, and we can't change the rate since we pay the third party a commission based on the gross amount ($250) of the reservation. Never a dull moment.

The Verizon outage on Friday was the result of a construction crew cutting a fiber optic cable. We found out that 2 counties were without service for a total of 3 1/2 hours. Even our Lodge had to process credit card payments manually as a result of the outage. One of the guests came into the front desk yesterday requesting that we give him a written statement that no fraudulent charges would appear on his credit card as a result of manual processing of his payment. That was also a no-no. Suppose someone else, outside of our Lodge, somehow got his cc number through a purchase he made somewhere else in town. Sheesh.

It's been overcast with a few showers the last 2 days so it's good that we have to work on these days. It's still cloudy this morning and our temperatures are cool as a result. Yesterday, our high was 79 and the low was 57. Great for sleeping...

Laundry and Relaxing

The weather turned sour yesterday as the storm front moved in. It was good that we did our hike on Thursday as we had more rain yesterday. We also had some things to get done so the timing was good. Josie got the laundry done and we spent the rest of the day lounging around and catching up on a few shows we copied during the week.

Part of our TV time was spent watching an old movie that I purchased on-line last week - Shane. This movie was filmed in Jackson Hole, WY. and was the reason I wanted to buy it. We recognized the area in which the film was made and identified it as the area where the barns were on the east side of the Park. The film was made in 1952, so  the area was very different from today, but we could identify the location from the views of the mountains in the scenes. The area is where the early Mormon settlements were located and could have actually been one of those settlements that was used in the film.

We also lost our Verizon service for part of the day. We couldn't get any signals for our Internet or our phones, so we took a drive to the Verizon location in town to find out why. The store was closed and had a sign on the door "Verizon service is out and there are no details at this time". I guess they closed the store so they wouldn't be bombarded with people asking questions. Besides, they can't sell any phones or handle other issues without service, so why remain open. Service was finally restored at around 5 PM last night after about 3 hours of downtime.

It was the end of another great week here and the time seems to be whizzing by. It's hard to believe we are in the middle of July already, but we are looking forward to the approximately 11 weeks we have remaining...

Hike Around String Lake

We were glad we took the chance yesterday and went hiking - in spite of the weather forecast. It was beautiful all day and we had another great experience hiking in the glorious countryside in Grand Teton National Park. We took a total of 134 pictures and it was difficult deciding which ones to post here in this blog entry. I grouped the ones we selected by category, so you are able to see a good selection of our shots.

Starting with photos of String Lake as we walked the 4.3 miles around the whole lake:

and of course, Josie was snapping pictures of wildflowers we saw all along the trail:

The trail was mostly subtle rises and falls and there were no really steep parts. A couple of the trail shots are below:

At one point, we had to move off the trail to let these horseback riders pass:

Along with all the beautiful wildflowers, we saw several different kinds of Butterflies:

As we came around to the western shore where we started our hike, we came to the picnic area where there were many families enjoying the lake. The water temperature in String Lake is the highest of any of the mountain lakes because it is the most shallow, and the sun can heat the water faster. This first one was taken from the opposite shore:

and then the picnic area as we approached:

We took a picture of the lake with Mt Moran in the background. You will notice the dark line at the summit. Three quarters of a billion years ago dark colored magma penetrated into a crack in the existing metamorphic rock and solidified. As the Teton Range uplifted, it became visible as the black dike apparent today. It is 150 feet wide:

The total time for our hike was about 3 hours and we reached our car again at around 1:30. By this time, we were getting hungry as we didn't bring lunch this time, so we stopped at a restaurant - Dornans - that is close to the Park entrance. Not bad. I had a pulled pork sandwich and Josie had a steak sandwich.

As we drove through Jackson on the way home, we stopped at the Visitor's Center again to pick up another, more detailed book on Hiking in the Tetons. Now that we are getting into this hiking thing, we thought it would be best to get information on more options and also have more detail on future hikes.

Our final shot is taken at the main intersection in Jackson. We stopped at the light and asked these officers if they minded if we took a picture of them. So, here is a shot of Jackson's finest:

We originally planned to go to Pocatello, ID, today, but since we have so much to do before going back to work, we decided to stay home. That most likely will be on next week's schedule...