Kickoff!

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6:42 am - Sunday - September 3rd - 47º F, humidity 62%, wind 3 mph out of the east.....hazy, overcast.....forecast high for Gardiner, MT is 92º F.......88º F for Mammoth Hot Springs, WY!  I hope this is the last gasp of summer!

Saturday was the 'kickoff' day for NCAA College Football......wall to wall college football games all day and where was I?  I was scooping ice cream in the Mammoth Hot Springs General Store 'Fountain' as I do 5 days per week, and two of those days happen to be Saturday and Sunday.....oh well, it is only a few more weekends and then I will be free, I hope, again.  There are a number of college football fans on our staff and they could be seen in the break room during their breaks and lunches watching their favorites teams on their laptops, or smart phones.....I was not one of them.  Why?  Well, being able to watch a game for a few minutes only makes me more unhappy that I am not sitting in my recliner all day watching every minute of every game.

Our work day began at 11 am ('MID1' shift) and things were slow as I expected....then 1:30 pm came and the sky fell......from then until 6 pm we were 'slammed' (Urban Dictionary - "Having an insane amount of work dumped on you that leaves you winded and overwhelmed").   We later learned that the 'GRILL' (next door to the General Store....run by Xanterra) has shortened their hours significantly and now close at 5 pm instead of 9 pm, plus their service, apparently, now stinks due to under staffing.....the result?  All their unhappy customers are crossing the street to buy food from our 'Fountain'.

When 7 pm rolled around things were still busy, and I felt a little guilty leaving my two remaining 'Fountain' co-workers, Roscoe and Taylor, to face what remained of the crowds and workday by themselves, but, thankfully, the surge of customers seemed to be abating as TLE and I walked out the back door, and it seemed that they had things under control.

On our way past the Post Office TLE spotted a large bull elk (most likely 'Touchdown') in repose upon the lawn, so I snagged a parking spot in front of the USPS to go inside to check our mail whilst she walked across the street to snap a picture.......

TLE's picture of 'Touchdown'

Our co-worker, Nancy, got this picture of 'Touchdown' standing earlier in the afternoon

......waiting in our P.O. Box was a wedding invitation to the wedding of Amanda (long time friend of our family, and close friend to our daughter Sharon).  She, Amanda, is marrying long time beau, Mike, on November 4th in Riverside, CA......we will need to adjust our start time for our job at the Grand Canyon in order to be there for the wedding......I'm pretty sure we can make that happen.

As we passed through the north gate kiosk area I noted that sun was just about to dip below the western mountains, so I stopped once again to capture the moment.......I think it came out pretty good......am I right?

Sunset over the Roosevelt Gate

One more day to our work week, and then time for more hiking on Monday.....we should be able to surpass the 100 mile mark!

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission.