'Lucky 13'

I wrote a post a few years ago when we worked at Amazon in Campbellsville, KY called 'Twenty-five, or six to four'......a take off on the popular 1970 song by the band Chicago.  We, or course, were working the night shift and were both up at that time every morning for virtually 11 weeks.  The point of the title and the lyrics is that the writer had 'writer's block' and finally at about 25, or 26 minutes to four in the morning he had come up with the lyrics for the song.  As I sit here typing I look at the clock in the salon and see it is exactly 25 minutes to 4 in the morning, however, I am not, as the author of that song was, suffering from any sort of 'writer's block'.

As wrote yesterday morning I was on the job by 5 am making my first security round of the park......as I trundled along in my cart with the headlights creating a tunnel of light for me to follow I was enjoying how peaceful and quiet it was for a Saturday morning on the 4th of July weekend.  The last two years we had arrived at the office to a chorus of noise complaints from our customers.  We had no night security that went past 2 am, and that is when the shenanigans would begin.  The only noise issue we had began just after 2 am when Pierce was making his rounds.....he quickly dealt with the noisy patrons, and things quieted down.  By the time Miguel came on at 3 am it was totally quiet......every appeared to be asleep. 

Between 5 am and 7 am it was as quiet as a tomb.....in all I made two complete rounds of the park and 'Overflow Area' stopping along the way to pick up errant trash, reload the 'Ice House', check the pool area, and each restroom for any issues.....there was one clogged toilet in the men's side of the restroom in Section 'E', but that was it.  As I began my second round at 6 am I began to come across folks walking their dogs, or making their way to a restroom for their morning ablutions. 

By 7 am I was back at the Newell where TLE was just serving some oatmeal for my breakfast which I ate while she dressed.  I then left with her a few minutes later to begin the next part of my 11 hour work day.  While she opened the office I went down to the maintenance to plug in the cart which we had been using all night with lights, and pick up my Ranger Cart....I don't think I've mentioned before that my cart has the number '13' on the side of it....good thing I'm not superstitious!

 'Lucky 13'

Just as expected July 2nd became more and more frenetic as the hours piled one upon the other.....before I knew it I got a call from TLE saying it was time for lunch.....actually it was way past time for lunch.....1:30 pm!  Time really does fly by when you are busy.....I went from one thing to the next......watching the entrance, guiding customers to their 'Overflow Area' sites, pumping propane, solving site boundary disputes amongst customers, getting people to re-park their vehicles, directing traffic, unjamming traffic jams, and on it went until almost 4:30 when I staggered wearily to the employee room to punch that damn clock one more time.....boy did I want to literally punch it.....:-)

We are now just over 100% of capacity......there are seas of people walking, biking, driving everywhere.  We reloaded the 'Ice House' conveyor belt at least a dozen times over the course of the day.  The wonderful thing is we had no major glitches......we had 'ZERO' electrical issues.  Every time I would check in with Adam (maintenance supervisor) and ask him if he had to handle any electrical issues he would scowl at me and make me find wood to rap my knuckles against.  All that work he has been putting in replacing old breakers, outlets and wiring is paying dividends this weekend.....of course it doesn't hurt that we are in the middle of a cooling trend sending our daytime highs down into the high 70's.

At any rate I was home by 4:30 sitting in my recliner staring blankly out the front windows....I was too tired to even take a nap, or pour myself an adult beverage.  I just sat there listening to 'Classic Vinyl' on XM Radio at an appropriately high volume letting the tension ooze from my tired body.  When TLE arrived home just before 6 pm it seemed as if no time had passed at all.

In just a few minutes I will get dressed, venture out into the 'it's always coldest before the dawn' air to run my 2 hour security shift, and then at 7 am I will be off work!  Other than one more 5-7 am shift Monday morning I am free for the next two days.  Sometime this afternoon our daughter Meredith will arrive for a four day stay with her friend Amy, and we will spend a good portion of the next two days visiting our favorite SLT eateries, sitting by the fire at night, and engaging in general merriment. 

Two more days left in the 4th of July weekend....so far all is good.....it was soooo quiet again last night....thanks for stopping by!