April 8- 14, 2010

April 8, 2010, Thursday

Up early enough to get things put up in the motor home and be on the road by 9:20 am. We left the Heartland RV Park riding our magic carpet (our motor home) driving up highway 19 northbound. Rhonda drove the first 152 miles. This basically was a travel day for us. We arrived at Lake Texoma after I completed the last 97 miles. We found the campground around 3:30 pm. We pulled in with a little apprehension because the sites were small and narrow making the back-in to our site a bit tricky. After settling in we took a walk around the campground and out to a point where we could see the marina. This is a huge lake reaching into two states; Texas and Oklahoma. After our walk-around we took Sadie back to the RV and went out for another good meal. With bellies full and a good night’s sleep ahead of us, we traveled back to our RV home.

April 9, 2010, Friday

I went out this morning to walk our exit strategy out of the park. I wanted to make sure we could make the turns with the dolly and car hooked up to the motor home. I walked to the turn which I felt would be our major concern, when I just happened to look down and saw a $10 bill lying in the road. Our stay cost us $10 for last night. So the newly acquired $10 bill was either going to pay for last night’s stay or a breakfast at McDonalds.

McDonalds would eventually win out. We hooked up the dolly and car pulled out of the campground at 9:15 am. We stopped for breakfast at the first McDonalds we came to and then filled up with gas ($110) having our lunch in the parking lot of the gas station where we stopped. By mid-afternoon we stopped at Paradise Casino located about eleven miles south of Ponca City, OK. Our total miles traveled today was 229 miles. I went in to inquire about the cost to stay the night. They have seven hook-ups for RV’s, all with 50/30 amp service and water (no sewer). The price was free for the first night. Plus they gave us each $10 free spending money for the slot machines. The $10 didn’t last long but what the heck it was their money. After losing their money in their slot machines, we went into the restaurant but really didn’t see anything on the menu that tantalized our taste buds. So we walked hand-in-hand back to the RV, where I cooked up a little supper. The rest of the evening found us watching TV and saving our money. This little Casino had neon palm trees at its entrance and scattered all around the parking lot. It was a profitable travel day for us.

April 10, 2010, Saturday

Not sure what’s in store for today but weather wise it’s going to be great day. We left Paradise Casino at 9:50 am stopping at Wal-Mart about eleven miles up the road in Ponca City, Oklahoma for some supplies and $40 cash back. We stopped at a Long John Silver’s for lunch before taking off for our new home for the next six months – USI campground in Wichita, KS. Rhonda called the owner and our new boss, Sheila Wagner asking her if it would be okay to come in one day earlier than expected. She sounds like such a nice lady; she had no problem with us coming in early. We traveled a total of 104.2 miles arriving at USI at 1:45 pm.
The first person we met was Sondra Pegg who was working in the office. She is the better-half of Frank Pegg; together they make the other couple we will work with until June 1st. This will be their third summer working here at USI. There will be another couple coming in around Memorial Day weekend and they are supposed to be here for the months June, July and August. Until June 1st and after Labor Day we will be working three-days on and three-days off. The months of June, July and August our work schedule is suppose to be two-days on and four-days off. No matter how you look at it, whether it’s three on and three off or two on and four off, that’s not a hard work schedule. We also met Sheila and her husband Keith Wagner the owners of the park. They too seem like a real nice couple. It looks favorable for a real good summer. Sondra checked us in and Frank guided us into our new site for the next six months. The site we were assigned is very nice with shade trees, a picnic table with a brick patio and a yard to enjoy. We couldn’t have asked for a better site the only thing lacking is room to put out our awning. We are close to the office, rec-room, restrooms and laundry facilities. I think we are going to like it here.

April 11, 2010, Sunday

Today was a take it easy day before we start our training tomorrow. I called my youngest daughter Katie and my granddaughter Ally and I had a really nice conversation with both of them. Kevin my son-in-law was playing in one of his baseball or softball leagues so I didn’t get to talk to him. I then called my son Ted but was unable to talk to him, but did talk to my sweet daughter-in-law and the two oldest boys, Brady & Kyle. They sound so cute and Brady is talking like a little grown-up man. Kyle surprised me with how much his speech and vocabulary have improved.

April 12, 2010, Monday

We start our first day of training today but before going into work I called Good Sam’s Emergency Road Service trying to get our front door fixed. This time they told me I would have to pay for the service call too. The reason was because we could get inside our motor home through the driver’s side-door. I explained just few days ago they had sent someone out, a locksmith no-less and they paid for it. They wouldn’t budge on us paying for the service call so I called Camperland an RV repair shop that was recommended by Frank Pegg (the other workamper) and Sheila Wagner the owner of the park. Camperland sent out Eddie at the end of our work day. Promptly at 10 am we went in for our first full day of training. It was mostly listening to Sheila explain the inn’s and out’s of daily operations. There are a lot of procedures that are addressed in a notebook she gave us to take home to study. Bob May (a workamper soon departing) told me about a website to download the program Rhonda will be working with over at the office. It’s a demo that will give her hands-on practice which won’t be as stressful for her if she uses it on our computer. My first impression of Sheila was that she's a very organized person and I like that. She also is very businesslike in her approach, yet she does give you a feeling of being able to relax and do your job. My gut feeling is it’s going to be a long summer but one that we’ll learn from at this park. It was a long day with a happy ending. Eddie and his wife from Camperland came out and opened our door. It seems a bolt sheared off lodging itself into the hole and wouldn’t allow us to open the door no matter what we tried. I didn’t feel so bad knowing even a locksmith couldn’t open it up. Eddie from Camperland had to basically tear the lock apart to open the door. They will have to come back tomorrow to complete the job because he has to order a new lock. At least we can go in and out of our front door.

April 13, 2010, Tuesday

(Tom, Rhonda with Barb & Bob May) Today we had to report at 8:45 am for training. Rhonda will be working with Barb May and I will be shadowing her husband Bob. It was a long day but an enjoyable day working with Bob and Barb. Rhonda and I were both tired after this long day. The end of the day had its good moment and then ended on a sad note. The good moment was Eddie came back to complete the door job putting in a new lock (cost $161). The total bill was $322.30 for the repair after the service call and labor. And no that’s not the sad note, it was however a little sad for my wallet, because there goes my first two weeks of pay. Then we had to grocery shop at a store called Dillon’s which is like shopping at a Kroger’s. This cost another $67. WOW, I hope I get a pay raise soon.
No the sad note was Bob & Barb May are scheduled to leave tomorrow. They are such a nice couple and will be missed. I would have really liked working the summer with him.

April 14, 2010, Wednesday

(Frank Pegg on golf cart) We had a long journey of 100 feet to the office this morning. Today we will be working with a new couple, Frank & Sondra Pegg. I enjoyed working with Frank today. Rhonda worked with Sondra and she enjoyed working with her. Sheila the owner was home sick today; really sick; sick in bed – sick. Frank said that has never happened since they have been here the last two years. Frank and I did our daily routine of chores and he was a good trainer. Our day went rather well.
Arriving home a little after 6 pm there was a tail-wagging little doggie girl so happy to see us. I never get tired of Sadie’s greeting for us. I fixed supper; we ate; we relaxed and then I studied for a quiz on dispensing LP (propane). Just another qualification I will be able to put on my resume. Now we are just waiting on tomorrow for another full day.