Fulltime Roadrunners

I just can’t seem to get around to updating my blog lately.  Time just goes by and I don’t keep track of “when” I am.

This week, starting last Monday is Rally on the Rocks.  We have a gazillion people in here with little 4-wheel drive rock crawlers.

They are smaller than a dune buggy, but if you judge them by sound, they are absolutely huge!   Their wheels tear up the road (dirt ‘n gravel roads), and the owners are totally inconsiderate.  The louder the crawler, the better it is, the more they can tear up the road, the higher they climb on the “best rig” ladder.  The row behind us is what we call the “big rig row”, which will fit RV and tow vehicle or toad without unhooking.  A couple of the rigs are so long, it is difficult to navigate the road between us and their row.  The front of this rig is supposed to be back where the pole behind the front wheel is.  He’s a bit beyond where he should be.

When we worked the Ogden Canyon campgrounds we got frustrated by some of the inconsiderate campers, but they didn’t hold a candle to many of the people we get here.  As much as we enjoy Mark and Janie, the owners; and our co-workers, Leslie and Rick; we don’t ever want to come back here.  Although the sites are really quite large compared to other commercial campgrounds, for us they are too close together.  The worst part of working here is we don’t want to lose customers for the owners here, so we put up with the inconsiderate prima donnas and do our best to accommodate them, when what we really want to do is read them the riot act.   This is a perfect job for people who are used to staying in commercial campgrounds and have the skills to deal with prima donnas without stuffing their heads down the toilet.

I have been given permission to put one of my sheppard’s crook  plant/feeder hangers out by the tree, so I have a seed feeder, a nyger seed sock, and a hummingbird feeder hanging out by the tree.  I’m getting lots of House Finch, & House Sparrow out there, as well as the occasional White Crowned Sparrow.  The only Hummingbirds I’ve seen are a couple of female Broad Tail Hummingbirds.

We’ve made our site as much like home as we can.  I’ve got a pot of Pansies, and my round table has two pots of Salad Turnips growing and my garlic chives and a Early Girl Tomato plant.  The tomato plant has gotten thru the transplant shock and seems to be doing quite well now.

Rick, one of our co-workers, has had electrical issues in his motorhome and his fridge has quite working.  Tomorrow we are taking him to Grand Junction to pick up a new fridge for him to install (he doesn’t have a pickup).

One of these days we hope to drive south the evaluate the road down to AZ for grades.  We want to go back to AZ that way, but need to check out the road first.  Guess we’ll do that during our next 4 days off.

Time for me to head to the recliner.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Tah!

…but I couldn’t find anyone who would use it on me… they all wanted to use the cat-O-Nine Tails.

My apologies for going a whole week between postings.  I’ve been busy, tired, not feeling well, and just plain lazy.

The new truck is great.  I shouldn’t have any trouble at all pulling the cargo trailer with it.  We got home on Thursday and had to work Fri thru Sun.  Yesterday we went downtown to explore and see what’s there.  The only thing we were intrigued with is the Red Rock Tee-shirt shop.  They have some tremendous designs and the color is beautiful… dyed with the actual red rock of this area.  The price is a bit more than I like to pay for a “tourist” shirt, but I’m pretty convinced I’ll be going to AZ with a Red Rock T-shirt.

I managed to get my bearings around the park the farmer’s market is held so I can go there myself on Saturdays while Thom is working.  Fresh produce is a huge draw for me.

My turnips sprouted quite quickly after being planted and are growing great guns.  We bought a tomato plant yesterday while exploring town.   It need a new, bigger pot, but we took care of that today.

We decided to head to Grand Junction, Colorado today to try to find a new hand truck and check out the Sam’s Club.  We did find a new hand truck at Home Depot.  Our old one kept having flat tires, so this time we bought one with solid tires.  Between Home Depot (where we bought a large pot for the tomato, the hand truck, and potting soil), and Sam’s Club; we spent over $200.  Grand Junction is further than we were led to believe… (it’s 112 miles, and we were told 65 miles).  The drive goes fast though.  We were entertained by the prairie dogs sitting on the yellow side lines of the hwy, playing “dare” with the vehicles.

The job is going fine for both of us.  Rick is back and they’ve hired a guy to do bathrooms 3 days a week when we’re off, so we get our 4 days off now.  Tomorrow Thom will do laundry and I plan on doing floors… vacuuming, sweeping, mopping, etc.  Plus, I have a few dishes to do.

I’m telling ya’ll, this is a place to spend at a minimum, a week to explore the country.  You have the drive along the Colorado River going towards Colorado, which is beautiful scenery; the drive along the Colorado River going west, which has a wealth of Native American pictographs on the rocks alongside the highway… lots of turnouts.  The geological formations are unbelievable.  The colors and shapes are awesome.  Southern Utah is a part of the US you could spend a couple of months exploring and still want to go back for more.

I guess I’ve raved enuff.  I s’pose I ought to go spend a few minutes chilling before I go to bed.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Toodles.

This morning we left Moab bright and early and drove to Sandy, UT (just south of Salt Lake City).  We stopped at the Dodge Dealer in Sandy to see what our favorite ever car salesman had found for us to replace the Ranger with.  He had a Ram 1500 that was the best deal, even if it was a 4WD.  After looking at a few others, we decided on the one he first showed us.  We arrived at the dealers a little after noon and left there with a new truck a little before 4:00 p.m.  This is a purchase we didn’t particularly want to make, but had to make.  I’ll try to get pics to post tomorrow.  It’s another white truck.

This evening Marv ‘n Deb dropped by the motel after their Taco Tuesday… to see the truck and visit with us a bit.  It was so nice to see them.

Tomorrow we will go see our Daughter-in-law, Tiff and Coen (grandson).  Drop Willow off for a good run in their back yard, do a wee bit of shopping, and spend the afternoon and evening with Mike, Tiff and Coen.  I need to make it a point to get pics of everyone.  I might even hand the camera to someone to take a pic of me.  I’m always the one with the camera so we never get pics of me.  I don’t like to have my pic taken, but it would be nice to have a decent one to share now and then.

We are both so tired tonight.  I’m not going to try to say anything more, because it’ll be garbled and not very understandable.

In the meantime, ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Toodles.

Living with full hook-ups is spoiling me rotten.  I can leave the water running when I wash my hands, I can make sure the dishes are really rinsed well so Thom and I don’t have tummy issues.  I can even take a shower leaving the water running until the 10 gal hot water tank is empty.  I haven’t done that yet and probably won’t, but I can if I want!  AND… the water is heated by electricity which is included in our free hook-ups here.  We are still being conservative with our use of their water and electricity, but it’s nice to know we have it if we need it.

Our next door neighbor is here on a monthly basis and it looks like electricity is included in his monthly rate.  The meter on his elec box doesn’t move at all, but his A/C runs constantly.  He leaves most of his windows open in 90F weather with the A/C running.  I keep forgetting to mention this to Mark or Janie and I’m sure they’d like to know.

Thom worked 2 hours yesterday and was on call, w/o pay, today.  If they’d called him in, it would have been with pay.  I was off both days.  Tomorrow thru Sunday Thom works 9 - 3 and I work 3 p.m. - 9 p.m.  I was getting pretty good on the job, but I’m afraid two days off may have set me back a day.

The other day I bought potting soil and Hakurei Turnip seeds, so I hope I can get my indoor stuff done early enuff tomorrow to get some turnips planted so we have a harvest before we leave here.  I don’t have the critters to contend with here.  I can’t wait for Thom to get my bird feeder set up.  We can’t poke holes in the ground AT ALL here, so we bought a hanger we can strap to the tree.  I’m ready to see some birds instead of just hearing them.  I hear a Robin, I hear a Goldfinch, I hear a Kingbird, I hear a Raven, but I’ve only seen a Raven fly by, a Kingbird in another yard and a Lesser Goldfinch in my tree - once.

Janie, my boss, was curious about my wire sculpted trees so I took the two I had in to the office.  She wanted to display and sell anything I have in the way of crafts, so I have a shelf in our convenience store with my two trees, 7 of my wire wrapped pendants, 1 wire wrapped cross, and 5 of my beaded birds.  I’m enthused.  We’ll see if they sell.  This weekend is a big car show in town and our campground has all these people here, or coming here, just wanting to spend money, I hope they want to spend money on my stuff!

Thom spent most of today online trying to get an idea if we’ll be able to afford a new truck that can pull our cargo trailer without dying.  When we bought the Ranger, they said it could tow 7000.  The book says it can tow 7000, but today a dealer in Grand Junction, Colorado told Thom it being a 4 cyl., it’ll only tow 3500.  I guess the book is for 6 cyl.  Anyway,  we’ll keep you posted on this one too.  Thom called the sales rep in Sandy, UT who sold us two of our vehicles and he is looking for a used pickup, or a new one if it’s a better deal, he’ll call us if he finds anything.

Time to say g’nite.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy.

Tah!

We’re both doing pretty good.  Thom pretty much has his work in hand, but I’m still learning and still need to be watched to make sure I don’t double occupy a site or lose money.  I’m hoping that a couple more days and I can do most of it on my own.  I’m sure Janie and Mark are getting quite tired having to be here all day every day to supervise the newbies.

Today we had reservations for a group called the Red Rock Rovers.  They are having a rally today thru Sat.  There is also a car show this weekend so the whole town is booked solid for the weekend starting Thursday.  I have tomorrow and Thursday off and Thom works 2 hours tomorrow cleaning bathrooms and is on call all day Thursday to escort campers to their sites.  Then Friday we work our regular schedule - Fri, Sat, Sun.  It’s been mentioned that until they get new workampers, they’ll want Thom to do 2 hours every day to clean bathrooms.  We’ll see what happens.  Thom and I may go to working 4 days until new workampers come on.  As I said, we’ll see what happens.

I’m anxious to get to town and buy some potting soil so I can get some turnips started, and some flowers in pots around the yard.

Our friends who camp with us in Quartzsite know how much I am tied to the dancing and singing reality shows on TV.  Get this!  I’ve been without TV since we left La Posa South.  It hasn’t been too painful.  We don’t know what the Geek Squad did to our TV, but we can’t get our cable to work, so we can’t take advantage of the free cable TV and suspend our Dish TV while here.  The Dish TV tech will be here tomorrow morning to set us up and I’ll be able to watch my American Idol and Thom can tape the shows he wants to watch.

Okay, I’m bushed and ready to call it a night.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Toodles.

Our first day on the job and we’re glad we’re here.  The only reason we wouldn’t come back next year is the drive here is hard on both our trucks and Sedona, AZ is a lot (lot, lot) closer (less gas) than Moab, UT.

Thom started today at 9:00 and spent most of the day mowing lawns, with a couple of hours cleaning the restrooms and guiding new campers to their sites and helping them park.  He’s quite tired tonight.  I went to work at 3:00 p.m. and met Janie for the first time (I called her Jackie in my last post… sincere apologies).  She is very personable and likeable, and she certainly knows what she’s doing, and to top it off, she’s good at training.  It definitely is going to take me a few days to get the hang of things, but I think I’ll do okay.  It’s a whole new world for me.  I’ve never taken reservations before, and there’s an awful lot to remember to inform our campers of as they check in.

I’ve told ya’ll that one workamper couple left and and now the only other workamper (single) got word today there was an accident in his family and he has to go home to Dallas, TX.  He hopes to come back, and if at all possible, he will.  In the meantime that leaves just Thom and I.  Thom will take the brunt of the extra load.  We have a big car show in town this weekend and the campers will start arriving Thursday.  Thom will need to be here to guide them in and park them so that’s one extra day he’ll be working at least.  From what I think Janie said, she is trying to spare me enduring the big rush, so I will have the day off.

One good thing about our schedule is we aren’t in each others pockets all the time.  As a matter of fact, I’m home until 3:00 and he works until 3:00 right now.  I’m on my way to the office while he’s on his last chore.  We spent a couple of hours this morning together, then were apart until 8:00 tonight when we closed the office.  Later, after we learn our jobs, if the world gets perfect again, we’ll have from noon to 3:00 not working and 3:00 to 6:00 together in the office working, then he goes home and I work another 2 or 3 hours.

It’s an interesting and fun job, and I’m sure I’ve bored you to tears by now.  Sorry.  I’m just lovin’ life and want to share.

I forgot to mention we got a phone call from Quartzsite the day we arrived here.  It was the manager of the storage units we use.  They had a fire there and called to inform us they had to cut our lock, open up our unit and check for fire damage.  Apparently the unit 2 doors down from us caught fire. They told us there was no damage.  Larry and Phyllis (the darlings) drove over there to check it out and said things look okay.  They bought a new lock for the unit and we’ll get keys from them when we get back there in Oct.

I’ve gone on and on again.  At least I’m blogging more than every 5 to 7 days now.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Tah!

Mark, our boss, stopped by late this afternoon (around 5 p.m.) with a temporary training schedule and our regular schedule for the rest of the season.  For training we will work tomorrow thru Tuesday, then next Sat thru Mon, then we go to our regular schedule of Fri thru Sun.  Scott and Mari… take note… we work weekends.  Sorry.  While you’re here Thom will work from 9 to 12, then 3 to 6 and I’ll work 3 to 9.  We have Monday off.  Sorry.  This is all because the other workampers quit.

Today, we got the trikes off the rack on the Dodge and they are in our front yard ready to be utilized.  We went shopping in the local grocery store.  It is a Kroger store so the prices are fairly decent.  Luckily they have their weekly ads online(the City Market) so I can see what we want before going there.  We learned we need to plan our shopping trips in the middle of the week because during the weekends the tourists are everywhere!

Tomorrow we start work.  We’re starting on an odd schedule because of the couple who quit because they didn’t like the hours.  It’s a good thing we’re easy and are willing to do what needs to be done to get things done.

By the way… in Q we were at an elevation of about 1000′.  Last summer we were at an elevation of sea level or maybe up to 100′.  Here we are at an elevation of 4200′ and I feel it a bit.  I am able to get around okay,  I just have to remember to breath a bit deeper, but it will take me a couple more days to get to the point where I can walk uphill and not huff and puff.  I’m making it a point to walk briskly everywhere I go in the park.  In the past, it has taken about 10 days for me to get acclimated to the elevation.  I’m not sure why the elevation gets to me so easily, but I’ve learned to live with it.

I think Mark and Jackie are going to be good to work for.  Mark doesn’t take any guff, but he’s open minded and not really demanding.  Jackie is going to train me.  She has the office procedure down pat and knows exactly what I need to know.  The next few days will be interesting.

It’s now time for me to say g’nite. I plan on calling my son tomorrow and catching up, meant to do that tonight, but time flew…

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Toodles.

…in other words… “Honey, We’re Home”.

Today was a really short day, only had to drive about 65 miles.  We arrived at the Spanish Trail RV Park  around 10 a.m.  We had lots of time to unload the Cargo Trailer and get a lot done.  The freezer is under the hitch on the 5th wheel, behind the skirting we have around the hitch (moving that freezer about broke my back).  Thom got a lot accomplished today, I’m really impressed.

When we arrived we met our boss, Mark, the owner of the park; and the manager of the park, Leslie.  Both seem quite nice.  Mark is a bit frazzled at the moment.  He had a workamper couple quit because they didn’t want to work evening shift… even though they were told from the beginning that was their shift.  This is the reason he asked us to arrive ASAP.  We have tomorrow to get more done in the way of setting up and shopping as needed, then Sunday we start work.  Mark will stop by tomorrow to talk to us and let us know what’s expected.  We’re both ready to start work.

Living here, we are back to having to keep Willow on a leash at all times (out in Quartzsite, she almost never was on leash, she behaves very well).  The pet area is way at the end of our row and so far Willow hasn’t made it all the way to the pet area before having to stop and do her thing.  It’s close quarters here, but we have a couple of lovely views and only 1 neighbor.  We hope we can make 5 months.  I’m sure there will be time I vent on this blog… just bear with me.

Today while driving here, I got a phone call from the gal in Sedona, AZ who works for the Forest Service managing the volunteers in the Red Rock Country in Sedona.  We pretty much have a job there so long as I start “bugging” her in Feb. or March.  It will be so nice to not have to drive more than a couple hundred miles between our winter and summer places.  This job is visiting 3 or 4 day use areas and sharing information about the Red Rock Country 4 days a week.  They provide a Forest Service vehicle and pay a daily stipend (stipends are NOT taxable).  Hopefully, my son, Mike, and family can  come visit us while we are in Sedona, because we won’t be able to get up to Northern Utah to see them.

By the way,  I never (almost) use my cell phone while driving, but I recognized the call as coming from Angie and we really, really want that job next summer, so I answered it.

The town of Moab is a diner’s Mecca so we’re really going to have to restrain ourselves.  I need to get my BBQ set up as soon as possible and start cooking.  The temps here the next week will be in the 80’s… perfect BBQ weather!

It’ll probably be a few days before I post again.  I have a feeling we’re going to be busy getting settled and in the groove.

Here’s a photo of our site here, our summer home.

…for the summer.

We left Quartzsite yesterday morning around 8 a.m. and made it all the way to Mesquite, NV around 2:30 p.m.  A hard 6 hour day.  We left Mesquite this morning around 8:15 and arrived at a wide spot in the road about 80 miles from our home for the summer in Moab, UT around 3:40 p.m.  We went fewer miles and it took us longer.  The roads through Utah are all up and down and our little Ford Ranger just doesn’t have the power to pull our new trailer efficiently.  I doubt it got mileage any better than the dodge pulling our big ol’ 5th wheel.  We’re going to have to figure something out, because running the Ranger at a near constant 3000 rpm when pulling the cargo trailer is going to beat it to death!  The roads from Quartzsite to Mesquite were hilly, but not as many long steep grades as Utah has.  We definitely want to find a different way to go home because I-70 in Utah has 6 mile long 6% grades and going up those babies is hard on the Dodge.  Thom can’t keep the speed up, so the truck overheats and and we have to stop and let it cool down.  Thank heavens for the extra gauges he had installed way back when!

Barring any unforeseen happenings, we should be in our new spot by noon tomorrow.  I’m excited.  Can’t wait to get settled and learn the new job and start exploring more of this beautiful country.

Here’s a shot of the view across the street from where we are parked.

After looking at this pic you can see why we are anxious to start exploring.  We’ve been here before, but only for a few days at a time so didn’t get to see all we wanted.

I’ll keep ya’ll up to date and share as much of this wonderful country as possible.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy.

Toodles.

Yesterday we left our “home” in the La Posa South BLM Long Term Visitor Area and moved to the Hi Jolly short term visitor area.  Both are in Quartzsite, AZ about 7 miles apart.  Our time in the Long Term area expired on April 15th, so we had to get out of there, but we hadn’t finished our last minute business yet, so we had to move to another place in the area.

We are changing our place of residence to Arizona, so today we went into Parker and got our AZ driver’s licenses.  Eye test, $10 and we’re good.  We’re registered to vote and have opted for early voting which means our ballots are mailed to us, so we can “absentee” vote.

I talked to our new boss, Mark, this morning and they would like us to show up as soon as we can, whenever we can.  That means we don’t have to waste time here and there waiting for the 27th of April.  We are leaving here tomorrow morning and going as far as I feel comfortable with, hopefully Mesquite, NV, it depends on the winds.  Friday we’ll go another third of the way, then arrive in Moab Saturday morning or afternoon.

We said our goodbyes to Lee and Ilse and Larry and Phyllis today.  Sure gonna miss those guys, but we’ll be back next October and see them all again.  We hope!

Here’s our site at Hi Jolly.

Not too bad for a quick stopover site.

Our first night here we had baby bunnies, adult bunnies, quail, dove, cactus wren, finches, and sparrows… plus a lizard or two.  Thankfully no snakes.  It’s a little buggier here and a bit trashier here, but it’s understandable.  The people stay here because it’s free.  They only have to “dispose” of wastes, which means dig a hole and bury your excrement.  Many people just throw dirt over it, if even that.  There is no trash cans in the camping area, so a lot of people just toss their beer cans and plastic utensils.

Okay… it’s time to say g’nite and for me to get the kitchen ready for moving.  I’ll keep ya’ll up to date.

Ya’ll stay healthy ‘n happy!

Toodles!