Thursday was our scheduled day off and we decided to make the drive to Plainfield to visit Rudee's parents. The sun was out but the temperature was a little cool so we took the Dakota. Plainfield is about 70 miles east of here and we opted to take the 4 lane US 40 instead of I-70 since they were still doing a lot of road construction on the interstate.
Once we arrived it was time for lunch :-). Rudee's Dad was not feeling 100% and didn't want to go outside so we took Rudee's Mom to a local restaurant and then to her favorite place .... Kohls! She was one happy camper.
We spent the afternoon visiting with them and then headed for Jamestown where we surprised the grand kids by picking them up at their school. Amanda, our daughter, met us all in Lebanon at Pizza Hut and we had dinner out with them. Our son in law Ryan had to work and was not able to join us but he will get a lot of left overs because our eyes were bigger than our appetites and we ordered way too much pizza, pasta and breadsticks. :-)
We made it back to the 5th wheel in time to watch Swamp People on TV and then called it a night. Today is a work day and the campground has a large list of reservations. Looks like it's going to be a busy shift getting everyone registered and parked. I'll keep you posted.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
learnin' the ropes
Tuesday was a day off for these two "workin' RVers". We spent most of the morning getting things at our site a little more comfortable. We pulled out the vinyl enclosure for the front of our 5th wheel and it was a little dirty from last year so we tossed it and our patio mat into the back of the Dakota and headed for the car wash for a good scrubbin'.
Once we got them both cleaned up we returned and put them in place. Now I have my Harley back in it's own garage :-). Rudee picked up sticks and swept our patio area while I put out our awning and got it staked down with our awning straps. These straps were named by my daughter who just happened to be with us when I purchased a set of awning tie down straps and after seeing me fighting trying to put them together and attach them to the awning announced that only a "sucker would buy those". We all got a pretty good laugh out of that and a name was born. :-)
Turns out she was probably right because I tossed those cheapo straps in the trash after only a couple of uses. Nowadays I use a set of ratchet straps hooked to a bungee cord that goes around the awning tube. The ratchet strap then hooks into one of those screw in the ground dog leash anchors. They work pretty good for "sucker straps" :-)
I also got the grille out and we decided to put it to use. Rudee pattied up a couple of burgers and I cooked them up for lunch. She also made a nice salad and we ate outside at our picnic table.
I guess I over worked myself the last couple of days because by 2pm I was tired so I took a nap!
Tuesday evening was spent watching TV and surfing the internet.
Wednesday it was back to work. We went to the cafe' here at the park and took advantage of our free breakfast that is part of our work camping package. I had volunteered to help the owner move some construction supplies this morning and that took us about an hour. The rest of the morning we just relaxed in the 5th wheel until time to go to work at 3pm.
I picked up our golf cart from the "parking shed" and picked Rudee up for our commute to work. Traffic wasn't too bad today, only one camper walking their dog :-)
I dropped Rudee at the office and found the owner to see what needed to be done. He gave a short list of things to accomplish and I started with feeding the donkeys. They get a coffee can full of grain sometime around 3pm so I took care of that and saw they were low on water so filled that up as well. Next on my list was to do some mowing with the push mower. The park has a zero turn rider but it doesn't fit everywhere so I mowed the fenced in doggy park and the area between the office and cafe' by hand. While I was doing this the campers started arriving so I would stop mowing to escort them to their sites. I also filled my very first propane bottle solo! Keith had shown me how to do it during my training on Monday but this was my first time all alone.
Rudee was kept busy in the office as we had a steady stream of RV's arriving to check in as well as current guests shopping and purchasing in the store.
Things slowed down some after 6pm and I was able to cross off the last chore from my list. The campground had their maintenance building burn down over the winter and a new pole barn has been built and they are finishing up the inside. Keith had spread some gravel around the building and I manned the rake and smoothed it all out to a level surface. This took me about an hour and boy was I pooped! This old fat boy is not used to manual labor! Looks like it will be a Ben Gay night tonight! :-).
Our final hour was not as hectic and Rudee was able to finish her work, run her reports and close out her cash drawer without too many interruptions. While she was doing that I made some trash runs and gave the donkeys their evening hay.
Once 8pm rolled around we were both ready to lock the doors and call it a night. I dropped Rudee off at the 5th wheel and parked the golf cart. Tonight will be a quick sandwich and then some TV before heading for bed.
Tomorrow is another day off and then we have to work the next 4 days straight ..... Oh My!! :-) I'll keep you posted.
Once we got them both cleaned up we returned and put them in place. Now I have my Harley back in it's own garage :-). Rudee picked up sticks and swept our patio area while I put out our awning and got it staked down with our awning straps. These straps were named by my daughter who just happened to be with us when I purchased a set of awning tie down straps and after seeing me fighting trying to put them together and attach them to the awning announced that only a "sucker would buy those". We all got a pretty good laugh out of that and a name was born. :-)
Turns out she was probably right because I tossed those cheapo straps in the trash after only a couple of uses. Nowadays I use a set of ratchet straps hooked to a bungee cord that goes around the awning tube. The ratchet strap then hooks into one of those screw in the ground dog leash anchors. They work pretty good for "sucker straps" :-)
I also got the grille out and we decided to put it to use. Rudee pattied up a couple of burgers and I cooked them up for lunch. She also made a nice salad and we ate outside at our picnic table.
I guess I over worked myself the last couple of days because by 2pm I was tired so I took a nap!
Tuesday evening was spent watching TV and surfing the internet.
Wednesday it was back to work. We went to the cafe' here at the park and took advantage of our free breakfast that is part of our work camping package. I had volunteered to help the owner move some construction supplies this morning and that took us about an hour. The rest of the morning we just relaxed in the 5th wheel until time to go to work at 3pm.
I picked up our golf cart from the "parking shed" and picked Rudee up for our commute to work. Traffic wasn't too bad today, only one camper walking their dog :-)
I dropped Rudee at the office and found the owner to see what needed to be done. He gave a short list of things to accomplish and I started with feeding the donkeys. They get a coffee can full of grain sometime around 3pm so I took care of that and saw they were low on water so filled that up as well. Next on my list was to do some mowing with the push mower. The park has a zero turn rider but it doesn't fit everywhere so I mowed the fenced in doggy park and the area between the office and cafe' by hand. While I was doing this the campers started arriving so I would stop mowing to escort them to their sites. I also filled my very first propane bottle solo! Keith had shown me how to do it during my training on Monday but this was my first time all alone.
Rudee was kept busy in the office as we had a steady stream of RV's arriving to check in as well as current guests shopping and purchasing in the store.
Things slowed down some after 6pm and I was able to cross off the last chore from my list. The campground had their maintenance building burn down over the winter and a new pole barn has been built and they are finishing up the inside. Keith had spread some gravel around the building and I manned the rake and smoothed it all out to a level surface. This took me about an hour and boy was I pooped! This old fat boy is not used to manual labor! Looks like it will be a Ben Gay night tonight! :-).
Our final hour was not as hectic and Rudee was able to finish her work, run her reports and close out her cash drawer without too many interruptions. While she was doing that I made some trash runs and gave the donkeys their evening hay.
Once 8pm rolled around we were both ready to lock the doors and call it a night. I dropped Rudee off at the 5th wheel and parked the golf cart. Tonight will be a quick sandwich and then some TV before heading for bed.
Tomorrow is another day off and then we have to work the next 4 days straight ..... Oh My!! :-) I'll keep you posted.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
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.
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