it's been a long day!

Monday was day #1 for our work camping job. We didn't have to report "officially" until 3pm but the owner wanted me to stop into the restaurant around 9am so he could show me some things specific to handling the morning meals. One of our "perks" is a free breakfast every morning so we may as well eat while I learn :-).

Our little training session combined with breakfast lasted about 45 minutes and then we made a Wally World run to stock up on some groceries.

Before we knew it it was going on 3pm so we pulled on our "uniforms" which are KOA t-shirts with our name tags. Rudee will be wearing a more "formal" dress shirt which has been ordered but has not made it here yet.

We hooked up with the owners and Rudee started learning the computer system and how to take reservations, check campers in and ring up sales. She was a little intimidated by the computer system but it sure looked like she picked it up quick.

My first job was to replace the blade on the lawn mower. Keith, the owner, had been mowing earlier and hit something and broke the blade. He already had the broken one removed but had gotten sidetracked finishing up the repair. That little job took me all of 15 minutes and then I was ready for more.

I went back to the office and found Rudee taking her very first reservation! She was pretty nervous but did a great job! She is going to be a super front desk person!

We started to get a few RVers coming in for the night and I learned how they wanted me to escort people to their sites. We even had a couple of the cabins rented for the night and I made sure both of those were ready for guests. Luckily they have a golf cart that I can use to buzz around the campground in.

I delivered fresh cookies, a bundle of fire wood and learned how to fill propane bottles in between my escorting duties. They have a small petting zoo that consists of 2 miniature donkeys and one of my jobs is to feed them their grain and hay. I forgot to ask what their names are, guess I'll learn that next shift :-)

Before I knew it 5pm rolled around and it was time to open the restaurant. This is a full service restaurant open for breakfast and supper with a decent variety on the menu. There sure is a lot to learn though. Keith showed me a ton of stuff and my brain was swimming. I'm sure I'll forget some things but hopefully can get everything right eventually.

We only had a couple of guests in and Keith took care of them while I observed. One had a ribeye steak dinner and the other had talapia. They do have another set of work campers coming that will be doing most of the cooking. They don't arrive until late April or early May so I will be chief cook and bottle washer, at least on my shifts, until they get here.

Our shifts end at 8pm when the office /store and restaurant closes. We were both pretty tired and got in our jammies as soon as we hit the door to the 5er :-).

The day went pretty fast and both our heads were swimming with new information. I'm sure a lot of this stuff will become second nature once we do it several times. Tuesday is our scheduled day off. We will probably spend the time getting settled in some more and maybe explore a little on the motorcycle. I'll keep you posted.