We have had the last two days off and have done a lot of "running around"! Tuesday morning we headed north to White Pigeon, Michigan. That is the home to Bontragger's RV Surplus and Supply. They are near most of the RV manufacturers in and around Elkhart, Indiana and they have several buildings full of bulk supplies left over (or surplus) from the factories.
I love to just spend some time browsing through all the shelves and bins full of every switch, light, wire, bracket etc. that goes in our RV's.
I had called and they had a replacement oven for the one I burned up and true to their word they had one sitting on their counter waiting for us to arrive and take it home. I loaded it up into the truck and picked up a couple of small items as well. The small switch for our outside porch light had become really hard to turn on so I picked up a new one for $1 plus a new lens for the light and a shower drain plug for Rob and Jany Runion since the one in their Raptor was lost long before they bought it.
Since we were up in the area we decided to drive over to Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo, Michigan. This is by far our favorite casino. They designed it like a huge north woods lodge and it very comfortable inside with a large mix of slot machines. The building is large and even though it is all one level you don't feel "crammed in".
We have their players cards and recently received some coupons for some free play. I got $15 and Rudee got $35 of free slot play so we decided to give it a go. Luck was on our side because I was able to turn their $15 into a surprising $350.00 win! Wow, that not only paid for the oven I broke but covered our gas and meals for the trip! Rudee said I am officially out of the dog house now! :-)
We spent about an hour and a half playing and eating our supper before starting the long trip back home. We made it back to the 5er shortly after 10pm and were both beat from the long day on the road.
Wednesday morning I pulled the new oven out of the truck and saw a major problem. The front of the oven looked the same but the new one had a different case on it that included a light and fan on the bottom. This new one was made to mount directly over the stove and ours mounts inside a cabinet. Crap! Now we have to go back and to top it off they don't have our model. It's my fault for not checking it closer before loading it up so there is no one to blame but me. I guess I'm back in the dog house again :-).
There is another supplier in the area that supplies the new ones to Keystone (our RV manufacturer) and I can purchase one there so looks like my trying to save a buck backfired on me and we will be taking another road trip soon. Better stay out of the casino this time, doubt if I could be lucky 2 times in a row. :-)
Today (Thursday) it is back to work at 3pm for the next 4 days. We are both enjoying our jobs and it sure helps to that we are starting to get more comfortable with what is expected of us. I'll keep you posted.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Monday, April 2, 2012
scattered, smothered and chunked!
The KOA here has a full service restaurant open for breakfast and supper and I have been doing a little training in the kitchen. My first job in high school was as a grill cook at a local greasy spoon, so grillin' on a flat top is not new to me but it has been a really long time. A few days ago the boss man asked me to handle the cooking duties Monday morning because he was driving to Illinois to pick up new picnic table frames and had to leave before dawn to make the round trip.
Needless to say I was a little nervous since this would be the first time I would be cooking here by myself. Rudee was going to help me by waiting on tables if things got busy (they did!). We were up and out the door by 7:15 because I had to fire up the grill and get the prep work done for the 8am opening.
I got the coffee made and started getting the kitchen ready for cooking while Rudee busied herself in the dining room. Our first campers walked in the door at 8:01am wanting to eat a good breakfast before hitting the road. Oh well, ready or not, here we go!
The menu is fairly simple with eggs, omelets, pancakes and french toast. Meats are the typical bacon or sausage and we offer hash browns (frozen patties) and home fries (made from scratch). Breakfast is served from 8am until 9:30 and the time flew by! One of the perks of working here is a free breakfast everyday so the last half hour is when most of the employees get their meal. I felt the pressure when the tickets were stacking up and the grille was full of food but, with Rudee's encouragement I handled it pretty well and everyone was fed quickly.We got some really good compliments on our food and that makes it all worth while.
Once everyone was fed Rudee and I had our breakfast and cleaned everything up.
We had the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon off so we made a Wal Mart run for groceries and then came home and took a quick nap before reporting back to work at 4:30. This evening was our typical jobs of registering campers and getting them parked and settled in for the night.
I do get to spend some time with the "girls". This is Dolly and Cookie
and we all know this good looking chick!
Our schedule is changing and we will have the next 2 days off. Eventually we will have the same days off each week (Sunday and Monday) but that will not be for a couple of weeks. Tomorrow we are heading for Northern Indiana. I made some calls and found Rudee an identical microwave/convection oven at an RV Surplus store. The oven is a "left over" from one of the RV factories and is less than half the cost of one from the oven manufacturer and I promised her I would only install it and NOT use it! :-) I'll keep you posted.
Needless to say I was a little nervous since this would be the first time I would be cooking here by myself. Rudee was going to help me by waiting on tables if things got busy (they did!). We were up and out the door by 7:15 because I had to fire up the grill and get the prep work done for the 8am opening.
I got the coffee made and started getting the kitchen ready for cooking while Rudee busied herself in the dining room. Our first campers walked in the door at 8:01am wanting to eat a good breakfast before hitting the road. Oh well, ready or not, here we go!
The menu is fairly simple with eggs, omelets, pancakes and french toast. Meats are the typical bacon or sausage and we offer hash browns (frozen patties) and home fries (made from scratch). Breakfast is served from 8am until 9:30 and the time flew by! One of the perks of working here is a free breakfast everyday so the last half hour is when most of the employees get their meal. I felt the pressure when the tickets were stacking up and the grille was full of food but, with Rudee's encouragement I handled it pretty well and everyone was fed quickly.We got some really good compliments on our food and that makes it all worth while.
Once everyone was fed Rudee and I had our breakfast and cleaned everything up.
We had the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon off so we made a Wal Mart run for groceries and then came home and took a quick nap before reporting back to work at 4:30. This evening was our typical jobs of registering campers and getting them parked and settled in for the night.
I do get to spend some time with the "girls". This is Dolly and Cookie
and we all know this good looking chick!
Our schedule is changing and we will have the next 2 days off. Eventually we will have the same days off each week (Sunday and Monday) but that will not be for a couple of weeks. Tomorrow we are heading for Northern Indiana. I made some calls and found Rudee an identical microwave/convection oven at an RV Surplus store. The oven is a "left over" from one of the RV factories and is less than half the cost of one from the oven manufacturer and I promised her I would only install it and NOT use it! :-) I'll keep you posted.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Work, work , work :-)
Being work campers at a campground is a new experience for us and we are doing our best to learn our jobs. Rudee's duties in the front office are pretty well defined but my days on the outside are a lot more varied. Take yesterday for example, I reported for work at 3pm and jumped into the "routine" as far as I know it. I fed the donkeys, did a quick trip around the campground picking up trash and filled a propane bottle. Around 4pm the boss man decided today would be a good day to insulate the new garage/workshop. Myself, Chip (another work camper) and the boss man all started the hot and itchy task. I got called away several times to escort campers to their sites and fill propane but we were finally able to finish up around 7pm. We even hung a couple of sheets of drywall and I am anticipating to be hanging a few more today.
The new building has an office area which will eventually be tiled as well as the floor in the restaurant so once this gig is done I should have some pretty good experience remodeling :-).
Our days have ended late the last couple of nights, seems like 8pm is a popular time for people to stop for the night and she has had "late" arrivals both Friday and Saturday.
Chip and Velma arrived for work in the middle of the week. They are veteran KOA work campers and even spent a season here a few years ago. We will be leaning on them a lot this season and enjoy them sharing their experiences with us.
There are two more couples due to arrive between now and May 1st to begin working this season and we were told our schedule will probably change once the full compliment of work campers arrive.
I'll have to apologize for no photos but we have both been concentrating on learning our duties and doing a good job that I keep forgetting to take the camera along.
I did have time to blow up the microwave Friday evening though. Rudee had put some potatoes into the microwave and my job was to stop at the 5th wheel and turn it on at 7pm so they would be ready to eat when we got off work. Well I did what I thought was required of me, I set the timer to 60 minutes, hit the start button and dash back out to work. The problem was Rudee had told me to set the oven on 350 and then set the timer which meant use the convection part of the oven and NOT the microwave. Needless to say an hour of aluminum foil wrapped potatoes inside a microwave does not do it any good! :-o
I took the thing apart Saturday morning and replaced the 20 amp fuse inside. That seemed to fix it and we were pretty happy since Rudee loves her convection oven. All the power was on and the convection part worked great ..... then we tried the microwave button. As soon as we turned it on the fuse blew again so I think it's a goner and we will be shopping for a new one :-(. I'll keep you posted.
The new building has an office area which will eventually be tiled as well as the floor in the restaurant so once this gig is done I should have some pretty good experience remodeling :-).
Our days have ended late the last couple of nights, seems like 8pm is a popular time for people to stop for the night and she has had "late" arrivals both Friday and Saturday.
Chip and Velma arrived for work in the middle of the week. They are veteran KOA work campers and even spent a season here a few years ago. We will be leaning on them a lot this season and enjoy them sharing their experiences with us.
There are two more couples due to arrive between now and May 1st to begin working this season and we were told our schedule will probably change once the full compliment of work campers arrive.
I'll have to apologize for no photos but we have both been concentrating on learning our duties and doing a good job that I keep forgetting to take the camera along.
I did have time to blow up the microwave Friday evening though. Rudee had put some potatoes into the microwave and my job was to stop at the 5th wheel and turn it on at 7pm so they would be ready to eat when we got off work. Well I did what I thought was required of me, I set the timer to 60 minutes, hit the start button and dash back out to work. The problem was Rudee had told me to set the oven on 350 and then set the timer which meant use the convection part of the oven and NOT the microwave. Needless to say an hour of aluminum foil wrapped potatoes inside a microwave does not do it any good! :-o
I took the thing apart Saturday morning and replaced the 20 amp fuse inside. That seemed to fix it and we were pretty happy since Rudee loves her convection oven. All the power was on and the convection part worked great ..... then we tried the microwave button. As soon as we turned it on the fuse blew again so I think it's a goner and we will be shopping for a new one :-(. I'll keep you posted.
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