Sunday, May 4, 2008

Our days so far....

April 17, 2008
What a day! We made it to the North Rim today. The road was plowed but not all that good. We got the camper all parked, leveled and most things back in there proper places. We start work tomorrow. I have the hard job-going back to Jacob Lake (45 miles) and letting people in the gate on Rt. 67. We had a super supper! They were having a steak BBQ at the Lodge tonight. (Just for us!-no not really) It was the best steak I've ever had I think. We had a hugh fire place with a fire going. How hugh? Well lets see the measurements for this outside fireplace were about 9'high x 11'wide x 5'deep. And on top of all that we got to look at the Grand Canyon the whole time we were there. What a sunset that was! We just love it here. We're back in the woods and it's really dark at night and quiet too.

April 22
It sure is pretty up here but....things are moving slow. We just got sewer and running water today. Gary & I and all others in campers had it easy compared to those who are in the dorm rooms. Most of them have had to use outside port-a-pottys. There was one building that had 6 dorm apartments of which one was used as the kitchen to feed everyone and let people take showers. Of course that building was 1/2 mile away from where the other dorm rooms are and the main building for all the offices and the real dining room. So after finally getting the water on late this afternoon everyone is now happy, clean and sweet smelling once again. There must be about 100 people here tonight. Then you have the National Park people and the Forest Service people and we still have less than half of all the personel that will eventually be housed and working here for the summer.
Yesterday Gary & I had the day off to go to St. George, UT. I had to go to the Social Security office because someone in the main office wrote my number down wrong and Homeland Security sent a letter to HR Office saying I had 8 working days to go take care of everything. We got there 10 min. after closing (and $50 in gas), so I still have to go back this week sometime. But this time I'm taking the company car and getting paid for it, after all it was not my fault or HR's fault for the screw up.
We cannot get a cell phone signal unless we go 1 mile away to the Lodge which is right on the rim of the canyon.

April 26, 2008
Today Sam was baptized but we couldn't go, I really need tires on my SUV and they are now 6 hrs away 1 way. Chris's parents made it and Kristal posted a picture on her blog. My best friend, Penny, is now in Las Vegas visiting her daughter. Tanya is having twin girls any day now. Can't wait to see them all.

April 28
Got a call from Penny! The twins were delivered today and all are doing great. Guess we will have to take a trip to Vegas soon!

May 4
Things sure are moving slow still....Last night we found out the hard way that the water had been shut off. Luckily we have our reserve tank in the RV to use. Those in the dorms just can't flush! Lets see what has been happening since last I was able to write. Gary is in maintanence so he's working very hard along with 4 others to get everything working and all the water turned on but they keep finding leaks and what's worse is they don't find the leaks, thus we have to have the water turned off at night now. We also now have about 200 people here. We had a little over 2 million gallons of water when we arrived April 17 now there is less than 1 million and only 600,000 in the waste facility. Where did the rest go???? Out on the ground! And the pipe going down the canyon to the spring that fills the water tank is busted so we can not get any more water until that is fixed. Gary has had 2 days off since arriving here, I've had each weekend off. So what do we have here? We have a dinning room that feeds everyone in the dorms and any RV'ers that want to pay $3.00 per meal, unless you are a manager or suprvisor, then your meal is free. We have a camp store, a general store, for us and the general public that comes to camp. A laundry and shower house for the campers and all the cabins and buildings for the park service, and of course we have the stables for the donkeys. 4 dorms (with 3 washer & dryers in each) for the Forever Resort employees (that's us) and about 50 RV sites for the Forever Resort employees. A mile down the road is the Grand Canyon Lodge, (over looking the canyon), and the Book Store, the Gift Store, Saloon, Post Office and all the cabins you can rent as a guest-all of these at the rim of the canyon. It is very beautiful here and we get to see mule deer grazing every where. I've also seen 2 porcupines and 8 open range cattle while driving the 45 mile road into the park. We also now have WiFi hooked up in the dinning hall for everyone free of charge. So when I have time & energy to get there with the laptop then I can update things.
I will be in the gift store and because it is under a new company we have been loading, unloading, moving boxes, inventorying new supplies, ect...and still have not put any thing in the store! The floors were waxed on Fri. and supposedly the big wigs will be in this coming week to set up up the displays and teach us everything. Fri. I was told to enjoy my weekend becasue I may not get another day off until after the 15th-opening day. Of course if the pipe from the spring doesn't get fixed we won't open then either. Got to have water! We were told if we run out of water then we will have to move to Fredonia (about 70 miles away) and everyone in the dorms will get hotel rooms and we will have to take our RV with us. This just might be more of an adventure than I had expected!!

1 comment:

Kristal said...

Sounds fun, though! Miss you and can't wait to see you again!