Saturday, January 20, 2018

Desert View - Day 71 - The big shutdown.....

8:38 am - Saturday - January 20th - Grand Canyon - 33º F, humdity 78%, wind 11 mph out of the southwest.....it is snowing right now.....started about 8 am mountain time and is supposed to continue on and off all day.  Forecast is for 1-3 inches of snow accumulation and a high of 34º F, so we are close the the high for the day right now at 8:48 am mountain time.



The big topic of conversation around Desert View all day Friday was 'will the government shutdown?', and what will be the ramifications of that.  I had the 'open' shift and that was the first thing our assistant manager, Wayne, talked about when I walked through the rear door at 7:25 am.  What would the shutdown look like?  Will the store stay open, or will it close?  Will the gate just a few feet west of the Desert View entrance be closed, or will it be left open?  If the gate is shut we can't get to the main village, or the Marketplace, but we would be able to exit the park at the east gate which is about 1/4 mile from our location,  and drive into Cameron, or Flagstaff for supplies.  Frankly, our hope was for a shutdown that included our store as it is time for a short vacation.  

As is almost always the case my 'open' shift flew by and there was TLE bringing her cash drawer out at 12 pm.  Our internet connection was being erratic and I was not able to process credit cards, so I was glad I was off, and it was going to be TLE's problem.  She later reported that the internet was very slow all day, however she deposited over $350 in cash....I deposited $87, because I was doing all cash.  I didn't have my first customer until 10:30 am.  Had my credit card processor been working I might not have taken in any cash.

TLE needed some more cough syrup (Delsium, which we don't carry at Desert View), so I drove over to the Marketplace right after I got off work to pick up that and some bread and grapes.  My friend Art Young was working and so we spent about 30 minutes chatting and catching up on each other's lives.  It's easy for Art to keep up with me as he reads my blog.....😊  It's always good to see and talk with Art! 

I was back home before 2:30 and spent the rest of the afternoon reading....the wind was quite blustery, and it was very cold outside, so being inside was definitely my preference.  I read and napped until it was time to drive back over to pick up TLE at 5 pm......she was out the back door by 5:20 pm and we were on our way home.

We watched a few recorded programs and then tuned into Fox News at 10 pm (midnight Washington D.C. time) to see if the government was shutting down....the answer was 'YES'.  Around 2 am in the morning we got a text from our manager, Dakota, that we had a meeting at the store at 8 am Saturday morning to discuss the ramifications of the SHUTDOWN.  

9:13 am - Saturday - We just returned from the store meeting, and we (the General Store) are also shutdown until further notice, so now we have to decide what we are going to do......more on that tomorrow (Sunday) morning.  Our daughter, Meredith, is coming to visit us Tuesday, and was planning on staying at a hotel in Tusayan, which is just outside the west gate.  If the government shuts the gates she will have a long drive (about 150 miles) around to come and see us instead of the 25 miles between Desert View and Tusayan.

Thanks for stopping by!


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1 comment:

  1. The offices here at the BLM areas in Quartszite are shut down as well, no permits being sold, but no gates locked, so far, enjoy your time off.

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