Just Catching Up

We used the day yesterday to catch up on chores. Josie did laundry and I got a much needed haircut. We were a bit tired from our trip to Cody, but would have stayed even longer if time permitted. The Labor Day weekend will provide the next to last weekend for us to work at the Visitor Center this year.

This week we will begin making travel arrangements to return to Sun City in Arizona. The plan is to leave on the 12th of September and take our usual route home through Utah, Nevada and Northwestern Arizona. There will be no stopping in Laughlin, but maybe a short visit to the casino in Mesquite, NV. We are anxious to get home and to get things back to normal at the house and make arrangements for our new adventure. Both of us are a little nervous about the adventure, but also anxious to try something new.

We'll keep you posted on developments along the way...

Wonderful Cody Trip Ends

It's too bad we could only stay for one night in Cody. There were lots of activities and side trips we wanted to take that we just didn't have time for on our schedule.

Our Cabin:

We had a nice buffet breakfast at the Holiday Inn - adjacent to our cabin and part of the Buffalo Bill Village complex. We checked out and then drove around town to see the changes that have taken place. Most of the town is the same, but there were some new buildings and a few businesses that we remembered were favorites for us.

This shot is of the west end of town from the hill behind downtown:

This next one is one of the Sleeping Indian that rivals the one in Jackson:


Cody Sleeping Indian:

Jackson Sleeping Indian:

 The Cody Indian is only of the head as you can see the nose, eyes and chin, whereas the Jackson Sleeping Indian is of the entire head (including headdress) and body.

We left town at around 10:30 AM to return to Jackson. The drive from Cody to the Yellowstone East Entrance is an unforgettable one. There are many unique rock and mountain formations, some of which are below:

 There are also some beautiful properties along the way:

We saw no wildlife on the return trip but enjoyed sunny, cloudless skies again. The rain started when we returned to Jackson and I took this shot this morning after having thunderstorms most of the night:

Today is laundry day and I will try to get a haircut. Tomorrow, it is back to work again...UGH!!

Great Drive to Cody

It was around 9:15 AM by the time we got everything ready and packed for our drive to Cody. It was a terrific drive that included seeing some great scenery, lots of wildlife and sunny skies. The drive through Yellowstone was through an area we haven't seen in many years - the road to the East Entrance. We only traveled this section when coming to Yellowstone from Cody while we worked there about 6 years ago. We had forgotten how beautiful it is.

We got lots of photos, some of which I had trouble downloading so will not include. However, we did get these downloaded with no problem and are enough to give you an idea of how nice the trip was.

Starting with the bison that were just walking along the side of the road, not being bothered by anything:

And the bighorn sheep that were just trying to decide where to go:

The drive from the East Entrance to Cody is about 70 miles and through some absolutely beautiful countryside. We had a problem downloading some photos from Josie's camera, but this one photo that we got is of a house that has been sitting on top of a hill in Wapiti, WY (just west of Cody) that was never completed as the couple that owns it got divorced while we were still working in Cody:

It is quite a place.

We finally arrived in Cody at around 2 PM:

Our first stop was at the Walmart where we picked up some water and snacks before heading to our hotel. The downtown area has not changed much at all:

It is a great town to walk around. We made it to the Buffalo Bill Village:

Our room is actually one of the cabins we rented while working at the Buffalo Bill Village. Here are a couple shots of our small, but very efficient, cabin room:

We then spent the afternoon and evening walking around town and reminiscing about the times we had years ago in this terrific town. We finally stopped at the Silver Dollar Sports Bar and had a nice dinner - beer (2)  and burger for the tidy sum $25.56, including tip:

It was fun watching the people walk along the street while eating and also watching the locals enjoy what probably has become almost a daily routine for them after work each day.

We head home later today but plan to eat breakfast at the Holiday Inn next door before leaving.

We are so glad that we decided to make this trip...

Wrapping Up the Week

Before going any further, I want to show these shots from the start of our drive to work. The temperature was 30 degrees and we got these shots of an antelope running through the elk refuge and also showing the frozen refuge grass around the irrigation sprinklers:

While at work yesterday, we had one of our demonstrations with the Raptors and other local birds that are done twice a week during the season. They are excellent presentations by some very qualified handlers:

We ended our week yesterday with a plan to finally go to Cody today. We made our reservations at the Buffalo Bill Village (cabins) where we worked several years ago. It will be fun to see the town again and to renew old memories of one of our favorite places. 

Just a side note - we captured numbers 17 and 18 mice. I don't think we will ever be done with them until we leave.

See you tomorrow from Cody....

Another TGIF Today

There wasn't much to talk about yesterday as we had to close the Center at 7 PM. As usual, the last few hours were boring with just a small number of customers. Thank goodness the time is running out as it is very difficult working with these smaller crowds.

Our plan now is to travel to Cody on our days off this week. We have been putting it off and putting it off each week as a result of the lousy weather forecasts. This week, there is still a "chance" for thundershowers, but since we are close to the end of our time here, we will take the chance and go anyway. Both of us are anxious to see any changes in that area and to take that beautiful drive.

While are planning to go to Cody, we were also invited to go to the Playhouse in town on Friday night with one of our coworkers and her husband on Friday night. We would like to do that as we haven't been there in several years, but doubt that we would be up for it after the long trip to Cody. Maybe we can plan another activity together before we have to leave.

It was 30 degrees outside this morning which is way too early for those temperatures. It is just another indication of how strange this season has been. Oh, we got two more mice last night bringing the total to 16 for the season. We had gotten one each night over the previous two nights so we set two traps last night. I just finished resting the two traps again. Can't wait to get rid of that problem...

It's Off to Work We Go

Good morning from Jackson Hole Wyoming:

Of course, the skies are clear and the day will be a warm one because....we have to work. Not a bad view from our window.

There are only two more Sundays to go - not counting today - before we leave.

The arrangements were finalized for our travel to the new job in September. We will drive home to Sun City from here and arrive around September 15-16. Adjustments will be made to the contents of our RV and then we will place it in our RV storage unit on September 18 so we can travel to Simi Valley, CA on the 19th for our three day training class. We will then return to our home in Sun City and make final arrangements to take our RV to our work location in the Orange County Fairgrounds the week of the 25th to get set up for pumpkin sales. We are looking forward to a new and rewarding experience.

Work today is from 9 AM to 5:30 PM. The clock is ticking....

Final Drive to Yellowstone

Except for possibly driving through Yellowstone on our way to a potential trip to Cody, we bid farewell to Yellowstone for 2019. It was nothing like our last trip where we saw the most wildlife ever on a Yellowstone trip. This time, we only saw bison. Of course, we didn't spend as much time there or go to Lamar Valley as planned as a result of much cooler weather than expected. Also, we were surprised at the lack of traffic and crowds that has always been normal.

At any rate, we had to get the truck tire issue resolved before heading out. I had an 8 AM appointment at a tire shop in town where they extracted a 5/8" brad from the tire:

All is well now with that issue.

We headed out to Yellowstone at around 9:30 AM and took this shot of a unique cloud formation around the mountains:

The drive to Yellowstone was just ho-hum with no wildlife sightings. We stopped at a nice picnic area along the Yellowstone River just north of Fishing Bridge and had our lunch:

It was after lunch that we decided to turn around and head home. It was very cool and we had seen enough.

Along the way home we spotted this area with lots of horses and took a shot of them with the mountains in the background:

Finally, we spotted this herd of bison that were in an area that we hadn't seen them this year and was one that had always been a great bison area. They were far away from us, so the photo isn't the best:

Last, but not least, we have this shot of Sleeping Indian that Josie took:

When we arrived home at 4:30 PM, I discovered lots of emails from our new company. They sent the contract plus information about the job, our reservation at the Marriott in Simi Valley, CA, for September 20-23 and other forms that I have to complete this morning and return. The fun begins...

Tire Issue

Our plans for our days off were once again derailed as a result of the lousy weather forecast. I guess Cody is not going to happen unless we get some perfect weather on our days off in the next two weeks.

I mentioned that we had the "low tire pressure" warning light come on while heading out for our drive along the Grey's River Road on Wednesday. We had air put in and I had it checked again yesterday after a stop at the store and the tire has lost 5 pounds of pressure in one day. Uh, oh. I made an appointment for this morning to have it fixed.

We had planned to go to Idaho Falls yesterday and do some shopping at Walmart and Sam's Club and to stop by and visit my friend Scott in Iona which is right next to where we go to do our shopping. He was going to be out on a motorcycle ride in the morning so we opted to delay our trip until maybe next week or the week after so we wouldn't miss him. With the tire issue, it is a good thing we didn't go. Instead of Idaho Falls, Josie did laundry and I watched the golf on TV.

Today, we plan a trip to Yellowstone and the Lamar Valley. This may be our final trip to Yellowstone this season.

We're counting down the days until we leave this area. Depending on how things go over the next week or so, we may leave a week earlier than planned. We'll see...

Drive Along the Greys River Road

There is a road that we had driven down a couple years ago that starts in Alpine and goes for many miles along a pretty river through the Hoback Canyon area. It is the Greys River Road and it looked vastly different this time around. All of the wildflowers were gone and the dust was very evident along the entire road. There were many fishermen and vehicles along the river bank. We saw no wildlife but the drive was through a pretty area that is nice anytime. We finished up that drive with a visit to Smith's grocery on the way home.

Our plan to travel to Cody was again derailed by a not-so-rosy weather forecast. We have laundry to do today and some follow up on our plans to leave the area in early September. The word from our new "boss" is that our contract is near ready and we should expect to receive it today. Of course, we are anxious to review that document and to get a step closer to making it happen.

During our outing yesterday, we had the "low tire pressure" light come on in the truck. We stopped at the Ford dealer south of town and he checked all the tires and found one that was very low. We will keep an eye on that tire to see if there is any problem. We don't need tire problems at this stage of our summer...

Smoke is Clearing at Work

We informed our manager yesterday that our final day at work would be September 10 and that we would vacate our RV space in the Elk Refuge on September 12. He already has published a new schedule for the month of September and it shows what we suspected all along - his "pet" employee has taken over most of our scheduled days. She had been assigned to split her time between other Visitor Centers because we have had too many employees all season. We had seniority over her all season so she had to work elsewhere most of the time. She now can work with him almost every day. We can't wait to leave. Given the bad experiences this season, we will not be returning to the Visitor Center in the future.

Our new adventure is taking shape as the owners are preparing our contract. We haven't seen it yet, but know that - based on our conversations - they will take care of us.

Our three day weekend begins today. We had talked about taking the long awaited trip to Cody but now think we will save that money until we know for sure all of the details that need to be worked out for our new job. If nothing else, the rest will be a welcome few days for us...

Done Deal!

Our final telephone interviews were held yesterday - one in the AM before work and one last night following work - with the owners of the company we will be working for. It is Seasonal Adventures.

We started searching for options to our season in Jackson after about the first month of our effort. There were several options we researched and this one jumped out at us for a couple reasons: It is a short season and the money is terrific.

Here is the ad we responded to:

4: California

Seasonal Adventures has been retailing Christmas trees and pumpkins for over 30 years. We are the largest privately owned company in our industry. We have locations in California and Nevada and are looking for full-time RV couples to manage one of our lots. We currently have openings in southern California. Our three day training starts on Friday, September 20. The training is held at the Courtyard Marriott in Simi Valley, CA. The pumpkin lots open on October 1 and close at sunset on October 31. You then get some time off before starting preparation for Christmas tree sales. Tree sales run from the day after Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve. Tree school starts on November 22nd. After school, you will go to your lot for several days of preparation. Beginning pay is $8,000 per couple for pumpkins and $8,000 for trees, for a total of $16,000 plus bonuses. You are provided with free parking on the lot with 50 amp service and free dumping. It is hard work. Hours at the pumpkin lots are M-F 1PM to 9PM and Sat/Sun 9AM to 9PM. Christmas trees are daily 9AM to 9PM. Despite the hard work, many managers keep coming back as it is also fun. Our longest returning manager has been coming back for 20 years. Please email a resume to Rob Lambert and a picture of your motorhome. You are welcome to send us a picture of yourselves if you like. We do perform criminal background checks on all new Managers. rlambert@seasonaladventures.com $$

Email:	rlambert@seasonaladventures.com
Praise Your Employer:	3 -
View Workamper Experiences Postings

We will agree to leave Jackson early - September 10 being our last scheduled day. We will travel to our home in Sun City and make some adjustments to our RV contents to accommodate a cooler season in Southern California where we will manage a brand new pumpkin sales lot in the Orange County Fairgrounds. We will attend training at the Courtyard Marriott in Simi Valley, CA on September 20 - 23. There were two options that the management considered us for: the brand new location in the Fairgrounds, and another open lot in Murrieta, CA. The owners thought we would do the best job for them in the new location. We were told that we finished number one in the selection process for new management teams. We will begin sales of pumpkins on October 1 and end on October 31. There will be a break during November and then we return to sell Christmas Trees on November 22 until Christmas Eve. Make no mistake - it is hard work. The positive side is that the money we will make - before bonuses - is $16,000. The owners have said that as a result of working a new location that bonuses would be guaranteed to us.

There are details to be worked out yet but they will also provide us with $500 for travel costs to Southern California.

We are excited about this opportunity and hope that it develops into a long term relationship. We are sad that this impacts our original plans to travel to Patty's home in October to see Austin inducted into his high school football Hall of Fame and to watch Brandon's football game. If our season had been better at Jackson, we would not be looking at this option.

I will provide more details as we go along...

Excellent Phone Interview

We had an excellent telephone interview last night regarding a new opportunity that we inquired about late last week. It would involve a totally new direction for us in the near term and change our schedule dramatically. As mentioned previously, we have not been happy with the way things have gone this summer and we have been searching for options. This one would mean leaving Jackson in the middle of September, traveling home for a few days, attending training in Simi Valley, CA for three days, coming home for a few days and then heading out again for Southern Ca for the month of October.

The really big negative is that we would miss the trip to Austin's Hall of Fame Induction which we have been looking forward to. It also means that Josie would start working later at the flower shop - possibly November instead of mid October. The reality is that we need to get that extra infusion of cash - which is significant - to make up for what we have lost this season in Jackson. We will be working out details yet again today and I hope to report on the new schedule by tomorrow or Wednesday....

Closing in on Departure Date

Our manager at work is trying to determine who is going to leave when so that he can begin scheduling for September. Our original departure was slated for early October - like, October 2. It may change now as a result of scheduling considerations and the fact that we may have another commitment that would require us to leave earlier. There is a very lucrative opportunity that we are considering and we should have more information about by the end of the day today.

The situation here this year has not been what we had hoped. The hours are not there on the schedule, the site conditions are not the best and the money has not been what we anticipated. Add the smaller crowds at the Visitor Center, and the work is more boring than ever before.

Hopefully, we will have some news to report on our direction very soon...

Stay at Home Stuff

We used the day yesterday to do some things around the RV. Our truck sorely needed a bath and I took care of that while Josie made some cookies - a task that she has been promising for a long time.

The truck turned out OK and will last for probably two days before it will need another bath:

With all the dust and mud that this area has, it is impossible to keep the vehicle clean. Even when it doesn't rain to create the mud, the dust that is on these dirt roads is terrible. We can at least the clean vehicle for a day or two.

Josie's cookies turned out great. It was nice to see her make them - finally:

We will take some of them into work today for our coworkers to enjoy.

I expect to see our merchandise deliveries begin to taper off now. As we get closer to the end of the season, it is the standard procedure. That also means that sales will be coming soon and we always like to see those.

I'll end this entry with a photo of the Sleeping Indian that is always within view behind us:

You can clearly see the Sleeping Indian in that view...

Drive to Grand Targhee Resort

Two years ago - almost to the day - we drove to Idaho and the town of Driggs where we caught the road to Alta, WY, and the Grand Targhee Resort. It was a nice morning, so we opted to take the drive again to this fabulous, little known resort tucked into the west side of the Tetons.

It hasn't changed much at all since our last visit and the photos we took yesterday were a reminder of the beauty.

This first one is of the back side of the Tetons as we drove up to the Resort:

It looked exactly as we remembered it and these shots are of the Resort complex:

There was lots of activity on the ski lift as bikers were loading their bikes on the lift chairs and riding them up to the summit to ride down on the track that was all switchbacks and challenging ramps:

It is amazing that this beautiful Resort doesn't get more notoriety as it is a wonderful vacation spot for families of all ages. 

We drove home in the late afternoon and stopped in the town of Victor to grab a Huckleberry ice cream cone at the ice cream parlor in town.

It was a day well spent and we never got the thundershowers that were in the forecast for the day.

Our final day off this week - today - is one that will be filled with things we need to do around the RV. We are half way through August which means we are rounding the corner to head for the finish line...

Good Start to Weekend

First of all, an update on the unsafe water test results is in order. The affected water is in a different location - next to our RV's - and is a separate well from the one we use. That was good news. So far, we have heard that ours is OK and not to worry about any contamination.

It appears that yesterday will be the only clear day of the three we have off this week. We took advantage of the nice day to drive up north to one of the prime bear areas in the Park. Pilgrim Creek Road is the area where the most famous (#399) of the Park grizzly's resides. We packed a lunch and decided to just park in an area along the road and relax while just observing the surrounding area in hopes of catching a bear crossing the fields. We took a few photos during the day although none of bears.

This first photo was taken on the drive to our destination and is an airplane (in center, above mountains) coming in for a landing at the airport:

We could have gotten closer to the plane but would have lost perspective of the mountains.

This next shot is one of the mountain view from where we were parked while watching for activity and enjoying our lunch:

This last one is a photo we dream of taking while watching for bears in this area:

Someday, maybe...

Another Lousy Forecast for Our Days Off

This summer has been such a disappointment as far as weather on our days off. It seems that the bad weather is only in the forecast for every Wednesday-Friday to coincide with our free time. We have been postponing our trip to Cody every week as a result of the forecast. Eventually, we hope to get a good forecast for those three days.

We have not captured any more mice since we placed the trap in the basement again. They are either wising up to the trap, we have it in the wrong place, or the mice are gone again. Time will tell.

There was an email sent this morning regarding water tests on our system that we use here at this new location in the elk refuge. It tested unsafe and we were instructed to use bottled water until it can be fixed.

What next...

The Birds

We were reminded this morning of Alfred Hitchcock's movie The Birds of many years ago. We were shocked to see thousands of birds on the wires outside and even more on the ground beside our RV. This shot is of the wires:

You couldn't really see all the birds on the ground as they are small and blend in with the gravel. Maybe we can get another shot of the birds before we leave for work.

TGIF for us today. It seems to go pretty fast when we look back on the week. It is really only bad when we start a week and are staring at the full 4 days of work ahead. It is 9 to 5:30 PM today.

I set a mouse trap in the basement last night without getting any results. We know there are still some mice lurking somewhere and it will only be a matter of time before we get them.

We have no plans for our weekend at this point. We want to see a weather forecast first before planning any activities...

False Signs

Just when we think we might have gotten a handle on the mice problem, we get a sign that the battle isn't over. This morning, we discovered several different locations in our RV where there are fresh mice droppings. Sheesh. After about 5 days of having no sign whatsoever, we see it starting all over again. I guess I will load a few traps and place them around once again. So far, we have gotten 10 mice.

There have been several different suggestions from folks we work with on how to go about eliminating them. Starting with pieces of Irish Spring soap placed around the RV. Then there is the suggestion to leave the light on in our basement storage compartment at night. And still, the suggestion to place rope lights around the underside of the RV. Maybe if we did all of those things we might see them disappear. We'll try anything and everything to get rid of them.

It's day three of our work week today and we close again. The good part about working the late shift is that we get to spend some free time in the mornings before going to work. I hope we get some nice weather this week so that our days off can be spent mostly outside...

Long Day As Expected

We are still seeing smaller crowds every day which makes for longer days. The numbers we have seen show that we are still running about 100 visitors less per day than last year. It is even higher from two years ago which was our last season here. Nobody seems to know exactly what the reason is for the smaller crowds. We do know that there are changes in Jackson which, in our minds, is not on the positive side. There is lots of construction - mostly to create low cost housing. The funny part is that that the low cost housing is still out of reach for most people. There has also been road construction which has resulted in up to half-hour delays every day except the weekends on the main road in and out of town to the north. Of course, the only time road construction can take place is in the summer.

Day two of our work week is today and we start at the same time as yesterday - 10:45 AM. We close once again, so it will be another late day....

Phelps Lake Hike with Friends

It was an almost perfect day for a hike yesterday - clear skies and cool temperatures. Lots of other folks had the same plan though as there was a line of cars waiting to park at the trailhead by the time we arrived at around 10 AM:

It was about a hour before we were able to park and head out for our hike.

This is a very popular hike and one that we have taken earlier in the season. This was the final activity with Ed and Eileen before they leave for Florida today.

There were several stops along the way to take photos and to view the wildflowers and wonderful scenery. Here are some of those shots:

These are some of the photos of our friends:

And these with Josie too:

We even saw some deer along the way:

It was a great way to end their trip. Our plan is to get together again early next year. They want us to visit them in Florida in January, and they already have reservations to ride the mules at the Grand Canyon in April when they will also visit us in Sun City. I hope we can make that happen.

It's back to work for us today at 10:45 AM. Saturday is our least favorite crew to work with so we anticipate a long day...