we had a "blast"!

Wednesday was the first of two scheduled night blasts here at Crazy Horse. This one was to celebrate Mrs. Ziolkowski's 87th birthday. Our shifts started at 1 pm with Rudee in the gift shop and me at the entrance booths. Things were a little busier then normal but not too bad, that is until after our lunch breaks at 5 pm. That is when the crowds started coming. At 7pm we quit charging admission and switched to collecting donations for the local food pantry. 3 cans of food per person got you through the gate and if you didn't know about the food drive you could make a cash donation of your choosing and enter that way. This is when the rush started. We had double the amount of workers at the gate and still the cars backed up for almost the entire 1/2 mile entrance road. We were collecting food and cash as fast as we could and the parking lots filled up fast. They had a plan though and switched to parking cars in the nearby rodeo arena and pasture. They would then shuttle the people to the visitor center. 
The family that runs this place are very giving people, they bend over backwards to help the local community. I was told that 1/3 of all the food given away by the food pantry comes from Crazy Horse either by the many food drives or by cash donations. Unfortunately I did get to see some of the "dark side" of people. One well dressed couple in a very new Jeep with tow bar attachments griped that they had to give anything at all. He did, eventually, pull out two $1 bills and handed it to me complaining that he was told admission was free at the RV park he was staying at. I just can't seem to get the image out of my head of this guy tooling around in a big Class A towing his new Jeep and staying in $50 per night RV Resorts and he is bitching because we ask for a small donation to help feed hungry kids! I hope I am wrong about him, maybe they are on a limited income and doing the best they can but I sure didn't get that impression. Another van full of people came in and said they didn't know about the food drive and thought it was just normal admission, I told them we would be happy to take a cash donation of anything they could offer. The lady then handed out 1 container of Teddy Grahams as their donation. The regular admission is $27.00 per car load so I'm sure they were really happy with the "deal" they got, of course 1 container of graham cracker bears sure wont help too many hungry kids!
On the flip side, I had several large cash donations of over $40 and one little girl who, after her Dad gave us two $20 bills, said she wanted to give too. Dad rolled down her window and she handed me a dollar bill she took from the little purse she was carrying. That put a smile on my face and reminded me there is still hope for our future generations.
The blast happened right after the laser light show ended. I was still at the entrance gate but had a great view. Rudee was on the patio by the gift shop and took these pictures (best she could do with the crowds and lighting).

The blast was pretty impressive and, even though we were busy, we had a great time. We even got a piece of birthday cake afterwards. Needless to say it was a great night.

We also had another "small world" moment when a car pulled up to my entrance shack. They asked if I was the Phil who wrote a blog? Yep, that's me! Turns out it was long time blog followers Russ and Debbie Davis who are just starting their full time adventures. Nice meeting you guys, wish we had more time to spend getting to know ya but I had to get back to work. Hit us up if you are still around (and reading this) and we can get together on our days off, either Monday or Tuesday.

I took the camera to work with me and wanted to show you the view from my "office".

Not too bad, don't ya think?
Here is my "office" and my view towards the Monument.

I'm not sure who the guy is in the bottom of the photo but he keeps following me around and mocking

me! If he keeps it up I'm going to have Rudee kick his butt because he always runs from me. :-)               

Today is "Hump day" for us and we are already looking forward to doing some more exploring on our days off. I'll keep you posted.

workin hard and playin hard

We have settled into our routine here at Crazy Horse and are getting used to working full time hours again. I know a lot of my fellow full timers would cringe at the thought of having to go back to the grind of a full time job but for now we are happy to have the work. The recent medical issues that slowed us down (see April 2013 posts) have wreaked havoc on our savings and we are working hard to keep our dream alive. Last week I had the opportunity to work a little over time, one day was even a 12 hour shift, and it kind of wore me down. I was pretty pooped when we got back to the motor home but since we are working the evening shift, and not really doing things in the morning anyway, I figured making a few extra $$'s was better then just sitting waiting for my shift to start.
Monday and Tuesday promised to be great weather wise so we planned some rides on the bike. Monday we headed to Wyoming which is only about 40 miles west of us. We stopped in Newcastle Wy. where we gassed up the bike. Rudee snapped this photo of their courthouse which was across the street from the gas station.

I pointed the bike North and we followed along the trail of the Cheyenne to Deadwood stage coach. Before the railroads were built in this area the only "mass transit" were stage coaches and this line was a popular one for the settlers. The stage hauled a lot of gold out of the area and there was always a danger of robberies and Indian attacks.

We made the turn onto Spearfish Canyon Rd. and enjoyed another trip on this scenic highway. This time we were going the opposite direction from a couple of weeks ago.

Tuesday we decided to explore Custer State Park some more. Our VIP passes are supposed to get us in the gate for free but there was some confusion at the guard shack. The lady there said it was only good for a few specific days but the young man also working there disagreed. Seems the old policy was for only select days but there had been a change this year allowing the passes anytime with no restrictions. She was a long time worker and was not about to believe this young man was correct so to keep the peace I told her to forget the pass and we would save our limited visit for another time. She turned to go back into her guard shack and the young man quickly handed Rudee the free pass while she wasn't looking. :-)

We made a slow trip around the Wildlife Loop but didn't see a lot of wildlife. :-) The park is starting to get busy with the summer tourists and I think the animals are starting to venture further away from the hub bub. We stopped into the Game Lodge Campground where fellow bloggers Ray and Wendy are camp hosting. We caught them at home this time and had a nice visit. They are enjoying their time here and you sure cannot beat their location!

Leaving Custer State Park we followed Iron Mountain Rd. through the many switch backs and tunnels on our way to Keystone where we stopped for lunch.

Rudee finally got her "Mexican food fix" which we enjoyed at an outdoor table with a view of Mount Rushmore. Nice!
After lunch we headed to Rapid City to pick up our mail. We got notification that our last set of license plates (Motorhome) were in so we picked those up and headed back toward home.
We did make one more stop though.

Rudee hates snakes but was looking forward to stopping here. Go figure!
They have a lot of gators, turtles and of course snakes

They also have a lot of birds too. Look at the size of this owl!

Heading back to the motor home we stopped at Crazy Horse and checked our schedule. We both go in at 1 pm and have the same break time! They are having a "night blast" tonight and it is free as long as you bring 3 can goods per person to donate to the local food pantry. We are planning on a really busy shift and will be getting off later then usual but are both looking forward to seeing the show! I'll keep you posted.

Oh, the people we meet!

Yesterday I worked a variety of places at Crazy Horse. I divided my time between the entrance gate, welcome center and one of the museums. I kind of like that because it breaks up my day and I get to spend time talking with the guests more.
While I was manning the gate a group of Harleys came through. I collected their fee and one guy looked awfully familiar. I thought I knew him and asked where he was from. He said Tennessee and that just didn't jog anything in my tiny memory so I left it alone.
Shortly after that I went to lunch and while sitting in our break area I saw him and his group walking around the grounds and the light bulb in my head flashed on! That's Stu McNicol who is married to fellow blogger Froggi Donna! I dropped my sandwich and went outside to meet him. Sure enough it was Stu and he was on a bike trip with some of his buddies from his days at the firehouse in Maryland. This is what messed me up at the gate. I knew he retired from the fire department but forgot they bought some property in Tennessee.
We talked for a few minutes and then I left them alone to finish their tour, plus I was hungry. :-)
When I got off work I sent Donna an email about our meeting and she mentioned it in here blog here:
2taking 5th

This is the second time I have happened across bloggers by accident. The first time was in Indiana in line  to pay at the Camping World store and the lady in front of me looked awfully familier. Turns out it was Kit from http://www.kitandjerry.com.
I guess you just never know who you might run into while you travel around this great Country. Pretty cool stuff, don't ya think? I'll keep you posted