Some of you would be surprised to know that I have a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theology. One of my classes was "Comparative Religion" in which we studied not only all the major religions of the world, but all the various Christian religions, and their doctrines. I was always fascinated by the "Rapture" doctrine embraced by some Christian religions. The thought of waking up one day to find that some of your friends, neighbors, and/or work associates had vanished from the face of the earth, or, if you will, had been "Raptured" always intrigued me. The first thing that came to my mind Sunday morning was that the "Rapture" had occurred. Where there had been a sea of tents just a few hours before, it was now just trees and pine needles as far as the eye could sea. That there had been a "tent meeting" in progress in our Group Area all week made me wonder, just for a moment, if I had just witnessed a religious event. In the end it was just the proverbial "vacuum" that I write about so often sucking all the weekenders out of the campground, only this time it happened more suddenly than is the usual.
My usual routine after I "punch in" is to print out the departure and arrival reports for the day and make notes on the departure report as to which of those sites have new vacationers arriving that same day. On Sunday there were to be 178 sites checking out, and 76 arrivals.....the complete opposite of Friday. It took until 10 am to get that done, locate a 2 way radio, and find the keys to the office golf cart, and that was the funny part.....finding the keys. I spent the next half hour tracking down everyone who had used the cart before me and none of them had the keys. Sometimes Billy forgets he has them, or misplaces them, but even that was not the case this day.
As I walked back into the office after having walked down to the janitorial "closet" near the entrance to the park to talk to Kaye and Sandie to see if they had the keys, I put my hand in my left pocket and found the keys.....doh! I had them all the time....I must have picked them up without thinking and stuck them in my pocket. So, once the great key mystery was solved I was off on my rounds. This is one day I was glad I was not in the office because according to TLE it was hectic! They spent the better part of the morning making reservations for the Seventh Day Adventist group who had just finished their "tent meeting" and were re-upping for next year. By the time I finished checking all 178 sites and dealing with a few late departures it was going on 2 pm, and by that time it seemed it had calmed down in the office. We took our 30 minute lunch break at 2:30, and returned at 3 with three more hours to go until quitting time.
It was one of those afternoons when every person who came into the office seemed happy and content......not one unhappy person the last 3 hours. At one point we were getting kind of giddy just enjoying the difference between Saturday and Sunday. Billy, TLE and I closed out the day in style, closed up the office at precisely 6 pm, and headed for our respective abodes.
Once we had changed out of our work clothes we put the bikes back in the trailer (I had removed them so Claude could put his cot in the trailer), and then took the accumulated trash down to the dumpster.......TLE had prepared a vodka spritzer for each of us to take with us on our short journey. On our way back we saw our TVC friends, Ray and Carol, sitting outside reading so we walked over to chat for a "few minutes".....that was about 6:45. ...the next thing I knew we had been sitting by their fire for 3 hours.....we never got around to dinner. Around a quarter to 10 we bid adieu to Ray, Carol and Billy (who had stopped by on his walk around the park) and headed for our coach. What a nice way to end our weekend shift!
Monday we will relax, hopefully pick up the VW from the mechanic, and get our ears lowered (we both need trims).
Thanks for stopping by!
Still Heading East and Slightly South
1 month ago
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