Day of Sadness

There are days like yesterday that we all dread and we all live through. Josie had been getting reports from back east from her family members about the status of her sister, Marie, who had been in the hospital following Chemo treatments for a cancerous tumor in her stomach. She has been in the hospital for three weeks following her surgery to remove a portion of her stomach and small intestine and she is unable to keep food down- and is losing a lot of weight. She is close to being discharged from the hospital to be placed in a rehab center as the doctors are not able to do any more to relieve her condition. Evidently, Marie is having these problems as a result of stress, rather than medical reasons.

We have been following the status of her brother-in-law, Carlos, who has been suffering from liver cancer for the last several months. We last visited with him in January, 2011, while we were making our swing through Florida. Below is a shot we had taken of Carlos and Pauline (and Josie) while on that visit:

We decided to pay a visit to Josie's brother, Louie, yesterday afternoon as she has been unable to talk to him - or his wife, Ida - for many months. Evidently, the number she was trying to reach him on was Louie's old number which he never uses. Anyway, Josie thought she would just try "dropping in" to see if things were still OK. We were happy to see that he was still at the location in Surprise where we last visited with him a year ago. He is much thinner now, but otherwise doing about the same. While visiting with Louie, we received a phone call from Josie's niece, Evelyn, in New Jersey informing us that Carlos had passed away. It was so ironic that the news would be received while visiting her family in Arizona. Although not surprised at the news, it was difficult to accept that another member of her family has passed on. Carlos was 85 years old and will be missed.

Josie begins work again today following her first 4 days off since late February. Maybe working will help her to cope with the sad news that has surrounded her the last few days...

Outdoor Expo

The first order of activity yesterday was to measure for and order a replacement topper awning for our bedroom slideout. That was done and we expect delivery in about a week or so when I can install the new awning.

There was an Outdoor Expo advertised on the TV that was being held for two days at the Game and Fish location and the Ben Avery Shooting facility off of Carefree Highway not too far from us. We decided to check it out and get some exercise while walking around the Expo. It was free admission, and was a fun activity for us.

We arrived at the Expo at around 10:30 and there was traffic backed up in both directions at the entrance:

This is the first time that we have been back into this area off the highway and were initially surprised at the size of this complex. The parking lot was filling up and there were already hundreds, maybe thousands, of people going into this event:

There was everything from desert fauna to animals and birds and we got some pictures of them, including this one of a turtle:

He could care less about all the attention he was getting from the crowd.

They had tents for just about every outdoor activity you can imagine, and there were boats, fishing demonstrations and even shooting opportunities on the ranges at the Ben Avery Shooting Range that was part of this Expo area. There were also food courts where you could buy everything from dogs and brats to ice cream and kettle corn. We stopped at one of these and had some lunch:

It was a perfect day and a good decision to go. We picked up lots of information on locations within Arizona that we wanted to explore, including detailed information on the Arizona Trail that goes from The Mexican border to the south, and to Utah in the north.

As were leaving the Expo at around 1 PM, we got a shot of all the tents and the area that we could see from the Carefree Highway:

It made for a fun activity on a beautiful day. We would like to squeeze in more activities like this one before we leave in May...

Shopping Day

There were a couple items that Josie needed from a clothing store, so we took an early trip to the Tanger Outlet Mall in Glendale. That was following a brief visit to Cabela's across the street from the Mall. We haven't been to this mall since it opened last year and the crowd was certainly smaller than that experience - and also, parking was a snap. It is your typical outlet mall with most of the same stores that we see in all of the malls, with a few new ones thrown in. We walked around the entire mall and bought a few things, but not the items that Josie wanted to pick up while there. We will have to go somewhere else to find those.

We left the mall at around noon and went to Costco to check for items that Josie thought might be there. They were not. We then proceeded to go to Albertson's on the way home and we stopped for a TCBY that is located a few doors down from Albertson's. The day kind of got away from us as we didn't return home until 2 PM, and I defrosted the freezer while Josie did laundry.

We have enjoyed the company of a very nice couple that had been staying on the space next to ours. Kari and Darryl McGrath are from Colorado and were here to work on Kari's project to do interior design on a home for some folks she worked with in Colorado. They left last night to return to Colorado and we hope to run into them again some time down the road.

Josie is enjoying her first days off in a month. We aren't sure at this point what her schedule will be in April, but we do know that the first week in May she will be working some long hours. Last year at this time, you may recall that we were preparing for our trip to WA prior to heading to Jackson. We just hope that the real heat holds off until we leave around the 13th of May...

Life After Spring Training

Our life after Spring Training kicked into gear yesterday. Josie had a doctor's appointment at 10:30 and we left early so that we could pick up our paychecks at the stadium for last week's games. Aramark has all employees on a weekly pay schedule, but the pay is one week behind actual time spent on the job. So, we still have one more paycheck which we will pick up next Thursday. They had missed a full day of pay on my paycheck of two weeks ago, and I still haven't been paid for the missed day. They have one more week to get it right. The final day for players' vehicles to be loaded and transported to their home cities was yesterday. Here is a shot of the carriers all lined up to load the vehicles:

Pretty soon, the stadium will be like a ghost town for the summer.

Following Josie's appointment, we went to a late breakfast - or brunch - at the Village Inn in Surprise. There won't be much time left to enjoy these favorite restaurants of ours in Surprise so we took advantage of the opportunity yesterday.

On the way into the resort on the way home, we took this shot of the trees and ocotillo:

Both of us have suffered from allergies more this year than any we can remember. They sure look pretty when they are blooming.

We have a list of all the action items we need to complete before leaving in May. We have a lot to do in a short time and we probably let the time slip by without getting a jump on these items, but are confident we can get everything done in the next 30 days or so. Time will tell...

End of Spring Training

The game between the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners was a great way to end the spring training schedule. Texas won, 5-3, before 7621 fans and the game was played in 2:33 hours. Josie and I each wore our Mariners gear - she wore her Mariners visor, and I wore my hat - and even though it was not standard uniform apparel, nothing was said. Nothing is wrong with wearing clothes with team logos as the only no-no would be for anything that didn't support a team. The Mariners finished the cactus league schedule in fourth place out of 13 teams, so they did well this spring. Of course, these games mean nothing when regular season games begin.

We came very close to running out of footlong dogs and bratwursts - we finished with 5 dogs and 6 brats. That was a close call. Our prep of food for the game was almost perfect as we took our inventories down to nearly nothing in every category. Now, we get to reflect on this season and have a year to decide whether to return again in 2015. If we had to decide today, it would be a no for returning. We'll see how it goes between now and next January when we would have to commit once again.

From now until the first of May, we have a long list of things to do to prepare for our trip north to Wyoming. Beginning with the repairs to our hydraulic system which I will try to schedule today. I received the new pump yesterday, and we are ready to go. We will replace one of the topper awnings on our rig and do some other cosmetic work on the inside. Arrangements will be made to cover our furniture and place the cushions in our storage unit on site. The entire storage unit will be organized for the long, hot summer that we will be gone. We also have to do some organizing of our main storage unit in Surprise, but that will be minor compared to last year's effort when I had to shred volumes of documents. All in all, it should be a busy April, and Josie will finish up with a very busy first week in May working during the Mother's Day rush. I will also make deliveries now that we have the Jeep, so most of our work needs to done before May 1st.

It is a huge relief to be done with the spring training games...

Escaped

Shortly after 10 AM yesterday, they came to get the fifth wheel to move back into the service bays. They were to clean out the holding tanks and install a new valve on the gray water tank. They said the work would be completed by around 3 - 3:30 PM. So, I spent the time walking around the mall at Arrowhead in Glendale and then I went to pick up a few quarts of ATF (Automatic Transmission Fluid) for the hydraulic system in our rig. I was nervous about trying to operate the hydraulics with the broken "whatever" that was causing the fluid to spray everywhere.

Josie met me at the dealership when she got off work at 2:30 and we just walked around their sales lot looking at Montana's and a new fifth wheel by a two year old company - Grand Design. It is called a Solitude, and was very impressive at about $55K. The company was formed by two of the original founders of Montana, and they certainly know what to include in a rig that would be used for extended stays and/or full timing.

The work was completed on our fifth wheel at around 3:30, and we waited around another 45 minutes or so while they completed the paperwork and contacted the warranty company for payment. That was another shocker and caused me to lose it again when I was informed that I would have to pay the entire bill and be reimbursed by the them if the warranty company didn't pay them immediately. Ridiculous! They had an approval code and an agreed amount from them, so why should I have to pay anything beyond the deductible? Further, the amount that I was responsible for was $300 over the deductible which sent me through the roof again. They never informed me of work that would not be included in the covered amount. They obviously knew I was upset, so they relented on the requirement to pay the entire bill - over $850. They ripped us off but we were just happy to escape the place and get back to Lake Pleasant. I will definitely write letters to the ownership of the dealership and to the RV magazines about the business practices of this service department.

Our set up at home went smoothly as I added another quart of fluid to the hydraulics, and we are set up exactly as we were prior to our nightmare at the Orangewood RV Dealership. The new pump that I purchased will arrive a day early - today - and I will contact the mobile tech to schedule that installation. Our final game of spring training is today, and we are happy that the end is here.

Happy birthday to Patty - we love you very much!

Fuming

I pretty much reached the boiling point yesterday. After being held prisoners for over one week, our holding tanks were getting full and this place had very few options for folks that were staying on their site. They have a dump where they were going to take our rig to empty the tanks but they don't provide a sewer hose or pump-out option for the customers. When we left Lake Pleasant a week ago yesterday, we just disconnected our sewer hose and left it on site as we were only anticipating, possibly, a couple nights away. They suggested I purchase a hose in their store. Now, how much sense does it make to purchase a second sewer hose for just one use? I figured I would drive up to Lake Pleasant and grab our hose if necessary.

Here are a couple shots of the exercise they went through trying to figure out how to raise our jacks with no hydraulics:

and the eventual attempt to pry the rear jacks upward into the raised position:

They finally discussed the list of repairs with the extended warranty company and that was even more of a joke. The net of our one week of frustration is that only the holding tank valve replacement will be covered. They claim that the slideout problem - and the hydraulics problem - are both a result of hidden damage in our floor (news to us) and are not covered under the warranty. So, $4500 of "necessary" repairs are not covered and we aren't going to get any of that work done.

The hydraulics problem is clearly covered by the mobile tech company that originally replaced our hydraulics pump. They are balking at standing behind their 90 day warranty for parts and labor as they don't believe the problem was in the replacement of the pump. Well, they were the ones that created this hydraulics problem in the first place when they replaced the leaking hydraulics line in late January. I give up. I offered to purchase the pump ($315) if they (ASAP Mobile Tech) would perform the installation at no charge. They agreed, and I purchased the pump through Amazon.com and it will be delivered on Thursday. In the meantime, we have to somehow get our rig back to Lake Pleasant and try to force the slides open and the jacks down so that we can once again live normally until the pump is installed. Today should be an interesting day as the holding tank valve will be installed. Guess what - they have to empty and clean the holding tanks in order to perform the valve replacement.

I am thinking about writing a no nonsense letter to the RV magazines warning the RV community about this place. I have never seen such disgraceful treatment of customers, in any business, at any location...

Down the Stretch

It was not a very good game to end our last full week of spring training. The game lasted almost 3 1/2 hours and the final score was 11-7. The score was 10-5 after the first 3 innings, so we knew it was going to be a long day. There were only 6355 fans which made it relatively slow at the concession stand and we didn't close the stand until after 4 PM. With all of the duties required after each game, I didn't get home until after 5:30 PM. There is only one game left for us - Wednesday - and our spring training season will end for 2014. We said our goodbyes to the members of the crew that were on our weekend schedule, and most of them indicated that they probably would not return again next year. They feel as we do about the changes this year - much of the fun has been removed by new rules that only help the management and hurt the front line workers where the money is made.

We are hoping for some movement today with our fifth wheel repairs. If we could only get our hydraulics fixed, the rest wouldn't matter that much. Without the hydraulics, we can't move the rig at all. They will attempt to take our rig to the dump station this morning, and that has me nervous. The rear jacks are down and without any hydraulics, I am wondering how they will move us. When the front end is raised off the ground, the rear jacks will drag. It should be interesting.

It has been one week since we left our space at Lake Pleasant and we plan to go there when Josie gets off work today at 2 PM. We left everything out in the open that we didn't think we would need for a "short" repair schedule. Of course, we had no idea that we would be here this long. We are sure that our neighbors are watching out for our stuff while we are gone...

Another Big Crowd

The crowd yesterday was the largest since the sellout game last week. There were 9341 fans to watch the KC Royals beat the Texas Rangers in a game that matched the two teams that share this facility. It was interesting to see the car haulers again this year loading the players' vehicles to take to their home cities. There were the usual Mercedes, BMW's, Range Rovers and exotic trucks that these free spending players drive around town. They better enjoy it while they can.

Of course, nothing was done on our fifth wheel yesterday and they fulfilled their commitment to not do anything for a week. That assumes that something might get done tomorrow, the start of our second week here. I talked to the service advisor before the game yesterday and told him we needed to get our holding tanks emptied. He would have done that yesterday had we been able to stay home long enough. They will move the rig, slides out and all, to the dump station they have here and then set it back in the space tomorrow AM. They also handed me the estimate for the work to be done - almost $4200. They still haven't contacted our extended warranty company to get approvals for anything, so we will have to wait until at least tomorrow to find out what will be done, and what will not be done because we aren't going to pay for any of the slideout repair or the hydraulics repair.

In the meantime, we have our next to last game of the spring training season today. It will take some serious thought before we consent to return next year. We are very disappointed with the changes that were implemented this year, and so are many others that have returned. We have made many friends that we would miss seeing, but the work isn't worth the pay the way it is being run now. There is plenty of time before we need to decide on that issue...

Stalemate

The fact that we have to leave here so early in the AM to go work the spring training games and the RV dealership personnel are involved in meetings in the AM, it is almost impossible to communicate with them regarding our repairs situation. This will be the sixth day that we have been parked in their lot outside of the service department without any work being done on our rig. Our holding tanks are beginning to become an issue as they are filling with waste and gray water, and there is no sewer hookup or portable waste disposal capability. We already had to place our trash in the container outside the store which is the only visible disposal in the entire area. This experience has been a complete nightmare and find it difficult to believe that any service business can so completely ignore the comfort of their customers. When I went into the office before departing yesterday AM, the information I received was that they are still awaiting pricing information on our hydraulic pump which is just plain hogwash. They could have gotten a price from Lippert Components - the manufacturer of our hydraulic system - on the very day we arrived and discovered the problem. It's not like this is the first time they had to fix this kind of problem.

It appears that we will not get any satisfaction - or even an opportunity to review options - before Monday. Our games today and tomorrow will require our being gone all day on both days. We certainly made a huge mistake in scheduling this appointment before the end of the games, but we wanted to leave enough time in April to prepare our site and our fifth wheel for our trip back to Jackson in May. It was an even bigger mistake assuming that this would be a short and effective experience in repairing the problems. In the meantime, we will still remain their prisoners until they break the stalemate.

Yesterday's game between the Rangers and Milwaukee Brewers was won by the Rangers, 7-5, and was an otherwise ho-hum game with 7345 fans in attendance. The rest of the way should be interesting as the Aramark staff will be trying to use up as much of their inventory as possible before the end of the season. That means we will be running out of certain items and shrinking our inventories. By the time we have our last game on Wednesday, we may be down to just dogs and sodas. There are only three games remaining for us - today, tomorrow and Wednesday...

Player OK

The report on the Cincinnati Reds pitcher, Aroldis Chapman, is that he has fractures of the bone near his left eye and a broken nose and will be out for two months. That is a much better report than the one we expected to hear after watching the replay of the accident.

The game yesterday was attended by another crowd that was underestimated. The projection for the game between the LA Angels and KC Royals was 5500 fans. We had 8380 attend the game, and they were all hungry. We had lines from about 12 noon to 3 PM that occasionally got to 15 deep at each of our seven registers. It was all we could do during that time to keep up with all the food availability. We managed to satisfy everybody without running out of anything. We have only four games remaining on our schedule including today's game between the Rangers and Milwaukee Brewers. Needless to say, we are anxious to see the end.

There was no more progress on our fifth wheel repairs and it is beyond frustration over the lack of service at this place. We are helpless to do anything as our hydraulics aren't working which makes it impossible to move the rig. We would pick up and go back to Lake Pleasant if we were able to pull in the slides and raise the jacks. So, we just have to wait and see how and when the hydraulics will be fixed which most likely will be the only problem that will be corrected. We feel like we are being held prisoners at this point...

Frightening End to Game

First of all, the update on the progress of our repairs at the dealership - zero. Frustration is setting in and we are rapidly losing patience with this service department. It is going to be difficult to coordinate anything for the rest of this week with our schedule of games that we have to work during the day. I will talk to them again this morning before we leave for the game at 10 AM.

The game last night will always be remembered as having a frightening ending. In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Cincinnati Reds' closer, Aroldis Chapman, was struck in the face by a line drive and immediately went down, writhing in pain. The crowd of 6814 fans went silent as the trainers from both teams rushed onto the field to attend to him. His father, who was attending the game, also ran from the stands to the mound. For nearly a half hour the trainers and medical staff at the park worked over the player before taking him off the field on a cart:

The game was immediately called, and the fans all left, quietly, at around 9 PM. The early reports were that he suffered fractures of his left eye socket and nose, but will eventually recover. What a horrible way to begin a season for any player, especially the closer for a team. We will most likely get another update today.

No Progress

Our experience - so far - at the Orangewood dealership has been less than good. They made exactly zero progress on our repairs yesterday, and today we begin working the spring training games again for our final week. We are now concerned about communications. As we are required to be at the stadium at around 9:30 AM, and don't finish up until after 5 PM, it will be difficult to meet with the service advisors. Except for today's game which is a night game, it appears that the only window we will have will be between 9 AM when the service department opens and 9:30 when we need to leave for the other games. It's a good thing that the ballpark is only about 5-10 minutes from here.

The service department is waiting to get all the figures together for the repairs before contacting the warranty company. The impression I get from conversations with them so far is that they are not motivated to do business with a warranty company but would rather just take the cash directly from the customers. Except for repairing our hydraulics - again - I don't anticipate having any work completed under our extended warranty. They are saying the slideout problem is a result of floor damage that is preventing the slide from completely opening. We have never been aware of any floor damage and believe that they any damage is a direct result of the slide problem, and not the other way around. We'll see how that turns out.

The other concern we have is when we would be able to take the rig back to our space at Lake Pleasant. With games every day for the next five days, we only have the very early mornings to accomplish that task. I'm sure it will all work out...

In for Repairs

It all went smoothly yesterday morning as we hitched up the fifth wheel and took it into the Orangewood RV service center in Surprise. Josie called her shop to inform them she would be about an hour late as she helped me with all the preparations. I arrived at the dealership at around 9 AM and the service advisor - Doug - wrote up the work order. At first, he indicated that it would be a week before they could look at the problem to diagnose the cause. No siree, you're wrong about that! This is our home, and we will not be sitting here for a week before you look at the problem. I suggested he talk to the service manager who made our appointment and committed to getting on the problem right away. He did, and they diagnosed the problem.

The slideout is being prevented from fully opening as a result of some damage (?) to the sub floor of the bedroom slide. In order to fix the problem and allow the slide to fully open, the floor needs to be repaired. The floor damage is news to us, as we never had any occasion to do anything to the floor. Anyway, they will contact the warranty company this morning to get approvals for performing the work.

At 3 PM in the afternoon, they moved our rig out to the overnight parking area where we had an electrical hookup:

As I was setting up the rig for the night, I heard the familiar "pop" that accompanied the hydraulic problem we had while at Lake Pleasant. Once again, a hydraulic line got snagged on the controller and broke a fitting on the new hydraulic pump. Hydraulic fluid was leaking all over the place and the service technician had to spread some kind of absorbing granules under the area where the leak was located. So now, we have the additional problem of repairing the hydraulics - again - before any work can proceed on the real problem. We have a guarantee on the work performed by the Mobile Tech that installed the new pump, but it may require more time to get parts.

We also had them give us an estimate on repairing the damage to our fifth wheel caused by the tire blowouts a couple years ago. That damage should be covered by our insurance, and the estimate is $5400 for those repairs. We need to decide whether or not to get that work done while we are here. It looks like we will be here for awhile, but we will know more this morning. We aren't far away from Josie's work, so her commute will be a short one while we are here...

Trumped

Just when we think there has to be a fast, low scoring game, the game yesterday trumped the horrible game of the day before, which trumped the horrible game the day before that. The game, won by Texas over the Chicago White Sox, was 14-8. Fourteen of those runs were scored in in the 6th & 7th inning. We didn't think the game would ever end as they rolled in pitcher after pitcher to try to get the players out at the plate. There were almost 8,000 fans, and we did fine with our inventory/sales. The better news is that our work week at the games is ended until Wednesday afternoon. We saw 51 runs scored in just the last three games.

We will be busy today, and maybe tomorrow, as Josie goes to the production center to work today while I take our fifth wheel into the dealership for slideout warranty work in Surprise. We are just hoping that the work can be completed today and we can return here to Lake Pleasant and get set up again before dark.

The Bill Luke Bass Days event came to a close yesterday and the rides were already taken down by the time we returned home last night. There was some great fishing and some big prize money given away during the event. The winner (Mike Beaver ?) took away a $10K first prize which is a pretty good haul for a couple days on the Lake. The event gets bigger and bigger each year.

We have one more week- plus one game - before the spring training season ends. Next week should bring some better played games - I hope...

Not Much Better

The game between the KC Royals and Chicago Cubs yesterday wasn't much better than the previous nights' donnybrook. Last night, the Cubs won 6-5 and there were 18 hits and 12 pitchers used. The game was a bit faster than the night before and lasted only 2:57. We did fine with balancing our inventory to sales, but I got very frustrated yesterday with more procedural changes that continue to make our jobs more difficult. From what we have gathered in conversations with other returning workers, there will be a huge rejection factor next year when they come looking for "experienced" workers. The changes that have been made this year are geared toward making management's job easier while ignoring the employee. It appears that they will pay a heavy price for those decisions next year. Our final game of our work week is today with a game between the Texas Rangers and Chicago White Sox.

Following last night's game, we took a walk over to the Bill Luke Bass Days event being held at the Lake. We were both looking forward to getting an onion burger - our favorite meal at the fairs - so we walked around looking for a burger stand that might satisfy our craving. We took these shots of the activities, starting with the rides:

It was a nice, clear night with a full moon. Although a bit windy, there was lots of activity and many folks were walking around the grounds:

We found a burger stand and saw that we could get one with grilled onions, so we bought one to take home to eat. They were not worth the $18 we spent to try them, but as hungry as we were, they satisfied our appetite. They had live music again last night but we both crashed early and fell asleep without a problem.

Our main task following today's game is to prepare the fifth wheel for the trip to Surprise tomorrow. We will take it in for the slideout repair (hopefully) and maybe have a couple of other nagging problems fixed. We'll see how that goes...

Donneybrook

My guess is that several pitchers were sent back to the minor leagues yesterday - or handed their walking papers. The game was not a welcomed experience coming off the long night game from Thursday night. The teams - KC Royals and Oakland A's - played in a real donnybrook. The score was 9-9, there were 26 hits, 13 pitchers used and the attendance was 6486 hungry fans. We were hoping for a well pitched, short game, and got one that lasted over 3.5 hours. We were beat going into the game, and felt no better following the game. This is easily the longest week of spring training that we have experienced. And, there are still two games to go before we get a break.

The good news is that we came very close to balancing our inventory to sales, and I got out of there before 5:30 which is a relatively quick exit. I didn't have to recount any of the inventory and we should be set to go for today's game between the KC Royals and Chicago Cubs. The Cubs are always a good drawing team, so it will not be an easy day.

We were too tired to take in the Bill Luke Bass Days festival here at the Lake. There was a lot of activity as we heard the music and noise coming from the event, and thought it would make it difficult to get to sleep. We were so tired that it wasn't a problem. Maybe we will get to walk around the event tonight following today's game. There are only eight games to go for us before it ends for another year...

Beat

The game last night was everything that was expected. There were 10,545 fans and it seemed like we were the only concession stand open for the game. The gates opened early at 4 PM for the 6:05 PM game, and we had everything running smoothly until about 5 PM. From that point until the end of the 7th inning at around 9 PM, we ran like no other game since we started doing them last year. The game was a tie - 4-4. Our total business amounted to over $16K and we were off once again in balancing for the night. I didn't get out of the park until almost 10:30 and it was near 11:30 by the time we stopped for gas and arrived home. We are both beat.

Worse than being so tired this morning, we have to go and do it all again in about an hour from now. Having a night game isn't so bad until you have to turn around and go in early the following day. It would be a blessing if our schedule of games ended this morning, but it doesn't. We are past the halfway point, and we have probably worked our busiest game. It just couldn't get any busier than last night - can it?

The Bill Luke Bass Days begins today and the resort looks like it's ready for the activities. I haven't gotten any pictures of the final setup yet, but let me just say it looks like a county fair is about to begin. The fishermen are out this morning and there are hourly weigh-ins for the fishing contest with a $10,000 first prize for the winner at the end of the weekend. Not a bad prize for fishing on the lake.

Today is a game between the KC Royals and the Oakland A's. Please be a normal crowd and a fast game...

Tough Games

The game yesterday was between the LA Angels and the Texas Rangers. The Angels won, 12-1, in another slug-fest and before another huge crowd - 7738 fans. The projection for our stand was only 5500 fans so we were struggling the entire game to keep food out front to sell during the game. It is especially busy from about noon to almost the seventh inning - usually around 3:30 PM - when we usually get a breather and the crowd dwindles at the stand. We again had one new cashier and one that can't count change and rings up the incorrect amounts at the register. These problems always account for the difference between the goods sold and the cash numbers. It was off by about $400 following yesterday's game when we took in about $11K in sales. We found some of the difference in  the count of monster dogs and brats, but the rest has to be attributed to the cashier problem. Our other five cashiers, including Josie, are terrific and we can count on them for accurate figures.

Today's game starts late - 6:05 PM - and it is already a sellout. It will be between the Rangers and the SF Giants. It will almost certainly be the toughest game of the season for us to cover. That means over 10,000 fans will be there, and we will be looking at lines at each register that will probably be fifteen people deep for the major part of the game. Tomorrow's report on this game should be interesting.

Josie is feeling better and it seems that whatever she had has run its course. We will enjoy the extra time today before leaving for the night game at around 2:30 this afternoon. We will start to put things in their proper place for our planned trip with the fifth wheel on Monday to the dealership for the slideout repair. We're getting closer to the time when we need to get things organized anyway for our trip north to Jackson. Before we know it, that time will be here and we need to be ready...

Activity at the Lake

We remember this event - Bill Luke Bass Days - as an annual family event at Lake Pleasant. It actually doesn't begin until Friday, but there is a flurry of activity to prepare for this huge event. As I was leaving to go to Home Depot to pick up some Roundup for our site, I took a few shots of all the trucks, tents and preparation for this event. Starting with the sign at our entrance:

And all the tents being set up for the vendors:

And these trucks bringing in the rides and booths to be assembled:

The entire parking area is fenced off and it will be an exciting weekend here at the Lake. If I were a fisherman, I could be serious about competing for some of the nice prizes. There will also be games that carry a cash prize like the Cornhole Tournament, and live music on Friday and Saturday night. If we aren't too tired from our spring training games, we may venture out to the festivities.

Josie is still suffering from sinus congestion and will see a doctor soon if it doesn't start to improve. I give her credit for hanging in there every day and going to work. She rarely ever misses a day of work and has to be really sick to stay home.

An appointment was made at the Orangewood RV dealership in Surprise to take our fifth wheel in for the slideout repair. It will be Monday, March 17, and we need to get the rig ready for the trip between now and then. We are hoping that it will only be for the day, but are prepared to stay overnight - on site in the rig - if necessary. They have hookups outside the service bays for customers to be able to take advantage of that free service.

We begin the downhill side of our spring training schedule today as we work the game between the Texas Rangers and L.A. Angels at 1 PM...

Hydraulics Fixed

The main activity for the day yesterday was to have the mobile tech guy complete the hydraulics repair on the fifth wheel. He arrived right on schedule at 3 PM, and didn't leave the job until almost 7:30 PM. In the middle of the job, he had to leave for about an hour to pick up some hydraulic fluid (Automatic Transmission Fluid is used) which was only available a half hour away. Can you imagine doing a hydraulic pump replacement without having any fluid to run the thing? I would think that the fluid would be a standard item he would carry in his truck. Oh, well.

It took quite awhile for him to get all the hydraulic lines to work properly. The in/out buttons on the slideouts were reversed, and the stabilizing jacks were reversed. When we tried to raise the jacks, they lowered, when we tried to bring in the slides, we had to use the out switch. It took him at least an hour to figure out the problem. When he came out to do the original repair of the leaking rear stabilizer a few weeks ago, he replaced the line with a new one. To save some labor and costs on that job, he left the old line in which would have been difficult to remove because it was woven through the RV sub floor. Anyway, he inadvertently connected the one end of that old line to the new pump which caused the whole system to operate unpredictably. Once he figured out the problem with the old line, it worked fine.

We still have to get one of our slideouts fixed (the bedroom slide) that doesn't open completely. He has already cleared that problem through our warranty company and we just need to schedule an appointment with an RV dealer to get the work done. That requires a lot more detailed work with the slide mechanisms that he isn't able to get to without a possible removal of the slide. The dealer we will call is the Orangewood dealership in Surprise that we used to go to all the time for parts and other RV supplies. It is only a few minutes away from where Josie works at the production center, and we would be able to stay in the rig during the time that they aren't working on the problem. We are sure glad we have the extended warranty, as we saved almost $900 yesterday, and the slideout problem promises to be even higher.

One more day before we go back to the spring training games. Josie is still suffering from allergy like symptoms that don't seem to want to go away. I hope today brings some relief...

Good Ending to the Week

With yesterday's attendance of 5981 fans, it was about 70% of the attendance from Saturday's "circus" between the Rangers and Dodgers. Of course, the game yesterday was between the CO Rockies and the KC Royals, won by the Rockies, 10-1. Spring training games can turn into slug-fests, as the managers are trying to see as many pitchers as possible before getting down to the limit of players they can carry on the roster for the regular season. A consequence of that is that we see a lot of 13-12, 10-9, and games where lots of runs are scored and many pitchers are used.

We had a very good flow at our stand where we easily managed to keep everything available to the customers, without any problems. We even ended the day with a good performance in balancing our transactions. There was only a $76 discrepancy between the cash taken in - around $12K - and the goods that were sold. Everybody was happy, and that's the way to end the week.

Now, Josie puts on her florist hat and has to still work our days off from the games at the production center. They are short days - around 5 1/2 hours - but she is still suffering with some kind of allergy or sinus infection. She is looking forward to April when she once again can enjoy three days off per week.

Our mobile tech is scheduled to come out today between 3 and 5 PM to complete the work on our hydraulics. Maybe we will finally be able to completely level our fifth wheel for the rest of our time here at Lake Pleasant. It has only been off a small amount, but enough to notice while walking through the rig. We also have a slideout problem that may require a visit to a dealership to have corrected. As we are so busy in March, that may have to wait until April to get some attention...

Slammed Some More

The game between the Texas Rangers and LA Dodgers was even bigger than Friday's game between the Royals and Giants. We were told that yesterday's game would be a larger crowd, and it was - we had 8153 fans yesterday. We did a great job keeping up with the crowd at our stand which began backing up at around 12:30. We didn't do so well at balancing receipts to goods sold at the end of the day. Our discrepancy was $1200 on receipts totaling over $15K. I again re-counted all the inventory and everything checked out, so the problem is almost definitely at the registers where one - or more - of our cashiers isn't entering correct amounts on transactions. The problem is further frustrating because this company - Aramark - doesn't have any way to verify transactions at the registers. There is no tape run at the end of the day and the registers are, basically, as Josie said just adding machines. I never heard of any company having such loose standards to verify business for each day. Our manager is going to have to implement some kind of system in order to find out where these discrepancies are occurring.

Today's game between the KC Royals and CO Rockies ends our work week. Yay!! Both of us are really dragging right now and Josie is even suffering from either an allergy or sinus condition from the dry air. We both will be happy to see this second week end which puts us almost half way through our schedule.

We received our AZ license plate for the Jeep yesterday. I will put that on the car this morning. I will eventually replace it with a FL plate, but I need to research the best time for doing that. I seem to remember that FL has a law that you must own a vehicle for at least six months to be exempt from additional sales tax liability when registering it in the state. Whenever I transfer the registration to FL, we will be getting a refund on a portion of the AZ registration fee which is much higher than FL's fee. The longer I have to wait to make the transfer, the smaller the refund I will get, so I am motivated to find the answer...

Slammed at the Game

The projected attendance for yesterday's game between the KC Royals and SF Giants was 3800 fans. We had 6734 attend the game. The Giants are always a big draw, so the projection is a mystery. We had lines at the stand from about 12 noon through 3 PM, and it was all we could do to keep up with having enough product available. We did run out of foot-long dogs and brats briefly at one point, but other than that, we handled everything pretty well. Danny, our manager, congratulated all of us on a good job following the game. It is always better to be busy rather than standing around, but yesterday was borderline madness.

I performed the inventory count as always following the game, and there was, once again, a huge discrepancy between the cash and the goods sold. I have no idea what is causing these discrepancies, and neither does Danny. I recounted the inventory and came up with the same totals as the original count. The problem has to be in the cash or, perhaps one or more of the cashiers isn't ringing up sales properly. We were $600 short on sales of over $10K for the game. We did have a new cashier come on the job yesterday and our lead cashier was trying to train her while all the lines were forming at the registers. Maybe that had something to do with the shortage. It has become a frustrating situation. Our game today is between the Rangers and the Dodgers and we are expecting even more fans than yesterday. I'm holding my breath for the results after this game.

We were both so tired from the frenzy yesterday that we came straight home and watched just a little TV before turning in early at 8:30 last night. It is becoming a real challenge to stand on the cement all day without the mats that we had last year. All of the cashiers are complaining about having back pains after each game, and Josie and I have bad backs to begin with. It has been a long week, and there are still two games to go...

Back On Track

It was a different story yesterday following our game at the stadium. With over $5K taken in at our stand, we were within $50 of the goods sold for the day. When we are that close, there is no concern about any discrepancy. That is what it should be every day, so I don't know what happened on Wednesday. Actually, the discrepancy from Wednesday was never discovered as the re-count of the inventory that I made was the same as the supervisor count after I left.

We are still not going to return next year to work these games unless something changes dramatically between now and next year. Following research of the labor laws, the employer is not required to provide breaks or lunch periods for any employees. That shocked us, as we were under the impression that it was a Federal Law to provide those breaks when you worked more than 6 hours. All that the laws specify is that any break less than 20 minutes must be paid, and any break longer than 20 minutes does not need to be paid time. Good employers - those who care about their employees - find ways to provide breaks for them during the day.

We had heard about a great, new sub-shop that opened in Surprise called Jersey Mike's. We went there following the game and Josie had a delicious sub and I had an authentic Philly Cheesesteak. They were terrific, and we will go there again. After not eating anything since breakfast, it was especially tasty.

It looks like we are getting close to a return visit from our RV mobile technician. We heard from them yesterday and I will try to schedule a time this morning for them to come out and do the final repairs on our hydraulics and slideout. It will most likely be Monday or Tuesday, as they are the only days when somebody can be here while the work is performed. The slideout problem is one that he may not be able to fix at our site, and may require a trip to a dealership to have the work done. It will be done under our warranty, so we will wait and see...

Work Discrepancy

Our stand at the spring training games is the largest one in the stadium. We have six cashiers, three utility workers, three cooks, a lead cashier, and myself as the stand lead. It is my job to count the inventory before a game and following the game, along with making sure everybody does his job. It is the lead cashier's job to manage the registers during a game and to count the money following the game and turn it in to the office following a game. My inventory of goods sold should match the cash receipts. Simple enough, right? Yesterday, following my inventory count and comparing what the inventory said to what was received in cash showed a $600 difference. When there is any kind of disparity in the cash receipts versus the inventory, I end up re-counting areas that the manager feels might be in error. We found no discrepancies.

The night ended with the manager having one of his supervisors going to my stand to re-count the entire inventory after I was told I could go home. We have had instances where a cashier has taken (pocketed) money in the past. There is no system in place that verifies any cashier's receipts versus product sold, so it is very easy to steal money. It creates a situation where we are dependent upon the honesty of each individual at the registers. It's a terrible system, for sure. I will find out what caused the shortage this morning when I go to work at 10 AM. Either somebody didn't enter sales properly at the register, or there is a thief among the staff.

That is only one problem that has tarnished our experience this year. The company - Aramark - is not employee friendly and we are expected to work our positions without any breaks, eating any food, or drinking any liquid during our time in the stand. Now, I arrive at the stand at 10 AM and work until almost 6 PM most days. Being forced to go that amount of time without any food or drink has to be a violation of the labor laws.  I will research those laws this morning.

If it sounds like we are unhappy, it is true. Neither Josie nor I are satisfied with the way this year's schedule has been handled. It is not the same fun environment as last year, and we are at a crossroad as to how to proceed with the rest of our schedule. Today will go a long way in deciding what our next step should be...

More Offers

For some reason, we are getting many more offers this year to work at different locations this summer. We received another one yesterday - from a nice campground in Nathrop, CO. That is not too far from Colorado Springs and also not too far from Denver. If it weren't for the fact that the job is for only 20 - 30 hours per week, the first 10 of which go toward payment of your site, it would have been more enticing. We aren't quite ready for jobs that don't pay very much, even though we would love an opportunity in that particular area. We have also received emails, almost daily, that our resume has been viewed by a potential employer for workamping positions. We received another inquiry from a [park in WA on the peninsula near Port Angeles and right on the water of the Strait of Juan De Fuca - across from Victoria, BC. That would be another park that we would love to consider except, again, it is for just a few hours per week for just a few dollars. Someday, maybe the money won't matter and we can just volunteer for a few hours per week and enjoy the areas a lot more. In the meantime, we are enjoying the work and the locations we have been to where good wages are available.

It must be that we regularly update our resumes to give prospective employers a current view of our backgrounds. Each time we do an update of our resumes on the Workamping website, we seem to get an influx of offers which is the way you want the system to work. There have also been inquiries recently from vacation/amusement parks in Iowa, family campgrounds in New Hampshire and several in between.

Our second week of spring training games begins today. The time only seems to go fast when you look back at how much you've already done. I just wish we were looking back at three weeks, instead of one...

Car Dealer Differences

After dropping Josie off at work yesterday morning, I took the Jeep to the Moore Chrysler Jeep dealership where we bought the vehicle to have the promised work performed. It was a totally different experience compared to the recent one with Peoria Ford and the truck repairs.

To start with, the customer lounge at the Jeep dealership had fresh Danish and bagels and all the coffee you could drink. Plus they had a refrigerator in the lounge that was stocked with water bottles. On the other side, the Ford dealership had nothing but vending machines, and you had to get a coin from the cashier in order to operate the coffee machine to get a free coffee. The service was like night and day also. We waited at least two extra hours past the promised completion of each task at the Ford dealership. Yesterday, the Jeep work was completed 1 1/2 hours earlier than promised. We now have all four tires matching and a hitch with harness so that we can install our bike rack or, if necessary, tow a small trailer if we need that capability. That completes the deal for the Jeep.

We have been following the situation in Ukraine with the Russians taking control and the U.S. and its allies threatening drastic consequences. We hope it all settles down and everybody keeps a cool head to resolve this crisis without any serious confrontations.

There wasn't much else that was done yesterday except Josie got caught up on laundry after I picked her up from work at 2:15 PM. It also is beginning to dry out and warm up, so we expect a nice March weather-wise. Let's hope that the rest of the country can begin to warm up from this frigid winter they have been experiencing...

First Break

This year's spring training schedule of games is shorter than last year. We already had nine games in at this time last year and we just completed our fourth game yesterday. I don't know who makes out these schedules or who determines how long the season lasts, but we are both happy that there are only three weeks to go. We may change our minds when the games are finished, but right now we would not return to do it a third season. The people are nice and the job isn't that bad, but the company - Aramark - seems to be going through a state of change where the organization isn't good and the greed is growing. There are too many changes that are causing customer dissatisfaction. One example is that the bratwurst that we started out serving was so small that customers started returning them to swap for a foot-long hot dog at the same price. Aramark finally switched back to the larger brats that we sold last year, and the complaints are slowing. Of course, everybody still complains about all the high prices for everything.

There are only three weeks left and we get our first break today. I feel sorry that we decided to have Josie work at the flower shop on our days off from the games. I guess I will do all of the running around to do the things we can't do while we both are working. Starting with today. I will take Josie to work and go to the Jeep dealership to get our tire exchanged and the hitch put on our new car. Before I get that done, I have to stop at the stadium to inform them that I forgot to sign out last night. I'm afraid if I don't get that issue straightened out now, they will try to short change my time to save money. I stayed until after 6 PM, so it was a long day.

The rain seems to be over for now but we did get .90 inches from the storm. Some areas got well over 1" of the desperately needed rain. I see where the Midwest is getting another taste of the frigid weather and we feel sorry for Patty having to live through all the snow and cold weather this winter. It is one for the books. We also see lots of photos from friends in Wyoming and they are having some record snow along with some unusually cold weather. Arizona is definitely the place to be...

Light Crowd

It was raining when we left for work yesterday and was still raining in Surprise when we arrived at the stadium at 9:45 AM. The weather forecast was for more rain, but there were no indications that the game would be called. So, we did our normal setup and made preparations for a game that didn't seem possible to play. Then, suddenly, it stopped raining at 12 PM for the 1 PM game, and the sun started peaking through the clouds. It stayed dry until the 8th inning when it again started to rain and they rolled out the canvas again to cover the infield. It rained for the rest of the night, off and on, and the second game - another collegiate game, was postponed. As a result of all the rain and the much cooler temperatures - a high of 67 yesterday - the crowd was very light and was nowhere close to the anticipated 4000 fans. Today it is still cool, but dry so far.

Our final day for the first work week is today and we are very tired at the end of each day. The physical demands aren't that great, but the standing all day, with no mats to stand on this year, is taking its toll on our backs. There is no plan to replace the mats we used last year, and management could care less about the complaints. By the way, we discovered yesterday that Aramark had lost 4 of its contracted locations to provide services. They lost the stadium in Tempe (Diablo Stadium), Jobing Arena (a big one that included all the hockey games), and two other stadiums. We have noticed the difference in organization - or lack of organization - at our stadium this year. Add increased prices - $7 for a hot dog, $10 for a "Bomber" beer - and it appears that Aramark is not looking at a bright future at this stadium.

We stopped at the Red Robin in Surprise for dinner last night following the game. We don't feel much like cooking a meal at 6 PM when we arrive home after a game so it is a welcome change. Of course, it won't happen after every game, but we haven't been out that much this year. We will see how far that luxury goes...

Rain Arrives

Our consecutive days of dry weather for a winter season ended this morning. I believe the final tally was 69 consecutive days without any measurable precipitation. So far this morning, we have .34 " since it began around 3 AM. We desperately need the rain, so bring it on.

The procedure for rain-outs of the spring training games is this: We show up on time for our regularly scheduled jobs, clock in, and stand around until the game is officially called. What kind of foolish procedure is that? Some folks, ourselves included, travel some distance to work and if it is obvious that the game isn't going to be played, why have them come in to work at all? With the changes that have been this year and with the seemingly lack of organization versus last year, we are thinking this will be our final year working these games. At least it will be the final year at this location.

We sent an email to the Owner/GM of the Western Inn in MT to notify her that we are passing on the opportunity to work there this summer. It just doesn't make sense for us to work different days and not have a chance to go places and do things together the whole summer. She may have a hard time locating a couple that will be willing to work that schedule. We are looking forward to a third year working in Jackson, WY, and enjoying all that the area has to offer once again.

I have scheduled Monday AM to take our Jeep into the dealership to have the one tire exchanged and to have the trailer hitch installed. That means that I will take Josie to work and then pick her up at the end of her day. Our truck is enjoying the rest it is getting and we are still running on the initial tank of gas since we bought the vehicle last Sunday.

Have a great March everybody...