TVC - Day 54 - "....pants on fire"

.....and so began the influx of 158 arrivals on Thursday, July 2nd.....it was only the beginning of a long race with the finish line some 5 days distant. TLE reported for work around 7:2o, and I arrived a short time later at 7:30....we wanted to get a head start on the day and be ready to open the store at 8 am, and so I could get started on the departures.  We had just 36 departures Thursday, and 33 of them had vacated their sites by 11 am, which was fortuitous as people began arriving about 10:30.....no, that's not correct....we had one arrival waiting at 7:30 when we arrived at the office....unfortunately, he had no reservation and was hoping to pick up a cancellation.....lol.

Once I had all my departures resolved I spent the rest of the day sitting in my golf cart at the main entrance sending people straight to their sites before registering....we told them to report to the office at their leisure....this single decision by our manager, Duane, smoothed out the foot traffic coming into the office.....instead of having people standing four deep at each terminal we usually just had one person at each terminal.....we also avoided having RV's back up to Melba Drive.

Occasionally I would have to break off to chase down a speeder/stop sign runner, and on one such occasion the offender was driving a 40 foot, 20 ton diesel pusher like it was a roadster.....he blew by me at 35 mph (the speed limit 5 mph everywhere in the park), ran the stop sign making a hard right toward sections E and A, then a hard left toward section E's outer loop, and that is where I caught up to him after crossing 8 EMPTY campsites to cut him off......once I got him stopped I approached his drivers side window and advised him it was traditional to register first, or allow management to decide if he should proceed directly to his campsite.....he insisted he was already registered to which I replied that I would need to verify that with the office knowing full well we do not pre-register anyone.  While I was waiting for the office to respond to my radio call I advised him we had two more issues to discuss to which to replied...."WHAT?!".....I said "....number one you sped into the park, and number 2 you ran the stop sign.  He emphatically denied both and insisted he was going the required 5 mph, and what right did I have to stop him.......I replied...."No, you weren't, and please do not argue as you will only make things worse"......99% of people immediately apologize, but not this guy.  Finally, I hear back from the office that, of course, he is not registered, and he hears the answer.  He says...."So, do I have to back up?"....I said, "no, you can go to your campsite now and come into register later...",and then added, "Sir, if you had just co-operated from the beginning you would have already been in your site.....have a good day".  Fortunately this guy is the rare exception, but it certainly makes for an interesting story later....:-)

My replacement arrived promptly at 3 pm, and I was clocked out by 3:30 and headed home....TLE followed an hour later......however my day was not yet over....TLE had barely come home when a verbal dispute arose across the way from out site between three campers.....one camper (in a tent) was arguing with another tenter and and RV owner about the size of their site.  I headed over quickly to solve the 'land dispute'.  It took about 30 minutes, but in the end everyone was smiling, happy, and shaking hands.  Then about 3 am this morning I was awakened by some loud talking and laughing a few sites down.....I'm not sure how long it had been going on before I was dragged from slumberland, but it was loud enough for TLE and I to hear inside our coach.  I got dressed, grabbed my large MagLite flashlight and walked down to the offending site.....I shinned the light on the folks who were acting like it was 12 Noon and said...."It's 3 am, and it's time to be quiet and go to bed"....immediately I heard three different people apologize and promise to be quiet, which they did.  Oh the joys of living in a campground on the Fourth of July!

Thanks for stopping by!