Desert View - Day 1 - Getting acquainted

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7:30 am - Thursday - November 9th - Grand Canyon - 35º F, humidity 61%, wind - CALM.....clear blue skies from horizon to horizon.....forecast high for Desert View today is 61º F!  We've got 7 days of 60's weather on tap.......suweet!  I don't recall having two consecutive days without wind since early June in SLT....a nice change!

Well, we now know exactly how far the walk is over to the General Store......precisely 1/2 mile.  We walk about an eighth of a mile up the paved road that runs by our site to the stop sign where we pick up a footpath which takes us all the way to the rear of the store.  Takes about 10 minutes......a nice way to begin and end any day here at the Grand Canyon.

Our immediate supervisor, Wayne, asked us to report for work at 9:30 am, so we left the coach to take our first walk over to the store around 9:10 am, not knowing for sure how long the walk would take.....we arrived about 9:20 to find Wayne waiting for us at the front entrance.  They are in the middle of inventory so Wayne had us spend the day restocking, and merchandising......actually a great way for us to become familiar with the store.  Unlike the General Store over at Grand Canyon Village, this store only sells wine and beer....the GCV store has quite an extensive alcohol section which includes hard liquor.  Our store has a much smaller grocery section, so we will most likely find ourselves driving over to the GCV store to do most of our food shopping, with an occasional trip down to Flagstaff (about 70 miles away).

There are actually three Delaware North locations here at Desert View.....the General Store where we work, which has a large fountain, another store called 'The Trading Post' with a small fountain.....they sell mostly Indian and Navajo type stuff, and then the Chevron gas station, which also has a mini-market inside.  Gas is not too bad here.....$3.15/gallon for premium.

TLE and I worked steadily until just before 1 pm when Wayne told us to go ahead and take our lunch break.  We didn't bring anything for lunch so we got in line at the fountain........

.......they have a pretty big menu (see above)....we opted for two Nathans hot dogs.....with our 50% discount we essentially got two for the price of one (coffee and fountain drinks are free to employees).....cost.....$3.50.

By 3:30 pm we had gone as far as we could with restocking and merchandising for the day so Wayne sent us home (we got paid through 5 pm though).  We opted to walk the dirt service road home to see where it connected with the paved road......this is the road we will take when we drive the VW to work.......it comes out by the Chevron station.  In order to get to the store this is how we must go as the parking area for the public is a long ways from the General Store, and there would be no point in driving if we parked there, because it is still over an 1/8th of a mile walk to the store.

Once we were home I continued my setup of our campsite by using the Trailer Valet to move the trailer back a few feet so I can walk in between the trailer and Newell without having to step over the tongue of the trailer.....I almost always end up catching some grease on my shorts, or pants.  Once the trailer was moved back I was able to lower the tongue and level it properly.

I got out some of my awning mat stakes to tack down the corners of the artificial turf as the wind on the day we arrived kept picking them up and folding the turf over.  We haven't had any wind since the first day, but no doubt it will return.

My outdoor lighting is coming along.......

.....I haven't deployed everything I have yet, but I like the way it looks so far, and so do our neighbors!

Our first work day is in the books!  We have met most everyone we are going to work with and like everyone so far.  No doubt as the season progresses some of those acquaintances will develop into friendships.  We like our environment, and the remoteness.....even more remote than Gardiner, MT where we just spent 4 months.  Of course, with the remoteness comes the need to drive further for supplies.....such is life!

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.