First impressions......

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7:04 am - Wednesday - November 8th - Grand Canyon - 26º F, humidity 57%, wind - CALM.....clear blue skies .....forecast high is 57º F.  Glad I finished installing our heated water hose yesterday!  Today will be our first official day of work....we report at 10 am....I already like the start time.....😊

Tuesday began with very ominous looking skies.....it rained on an off all night long, and things were quite wet outside, but we were as 'snug  as two bugs in rug' as they say.  Tuesday was also our 'check-in' day at Delaware North Human Resources over in the main Grand Canyon Village about 25 miles west of our location.  They check-in new employees between 10 am and 2 pm every Tuesday.  It's about a 40 minute drive so we left Desert View around 9:20 am to make the drive.  Just like Yellowstone the maximum speed limit within Grand Canyon National Park is 45 mph.  The main difference, however, is this is now the winter season when fewer people are in the park, and there are no bison, elk, or antelope to cause traffic jams......just the odd deer here and there.

The last time we were over at the main village was about 3 years ago, and believe me, the road system over there is NOT intuitive.....they have a bunch of one-way streets, and you always feel like you're going in circles.  It was no different for us this time....we got lost a couple of times, but finally found our way to the Delaware North HR building (located behind the General Store, which is more like a full on supermarket......just with much higher prices).

We were in and out of HR in about 90 minutes, and on our way back to Desert View to check out the General Store there, get our first work schedule, and to meet our managers (Dakota-manager, and Wayne - assistant manager).  Dakota (2o something male) was in meetings, but Wayne was there and showed us around the store, gave us our first weekly schedule.....we will have Monday's and Tuesday's off, and work Wednesday through Sunday each week.  Our initial hours will be 10 am to 5:30 pm....we will most likely be on full 8 hour work days by our next schedule.  This week Wayne will get us integrated into the store operations.  Thankfully, we already know the software from our stint in Yellowstone, so it will just be a matter of acclimating to the local customs and procedures.

After our store tour we walked around the Watchtower area taking a few pictures........

 Desert View General Store

The Watchtower

.....the 'Watchtower' was designed and built in 1932.  The design is by Mary Elizabeth Colter, and renowned architect of that era.....for more details click on the link........

 The heavy cloud cover tended to wash out the beautiful colors we are used to seeing, but you get the idea

 ......this is going to be a beautiful place to spend the winter!  So far everything about this location has exceeded our expectations!

About an hour after we got back home (I was outside deploying more of our stuff) our manager, Dakota, stopped by to introduce himself......that was very thoughtful.  He is in his late 20's I believe, and a very nice guy.......of course, he works for Delaware North, right?  We continue to meet nothing but the nicest Delaware North folks!

So, here is how things will work for our site here in the Desert View residential area.....we pay $150 per month for our site, and $25-30/week for our utilities.  These amounts will be deducted proportionately from our paycheck each week.  At any rate, we end up paying very close to what we were paying at Yellowstone RV Park per month (paid a flat $240/month), but will be making about $2 more per hour ($10.10/hour), plus overtime.  We plan to walk to and from work, and I believe the one way distance is between 1/4 and 1/2 mile.....we'll find out for sure Wednesday.

Lastly, the Verizon signal is pretty decent here.....no on a par with the one we got in Gardiner, but we are able to utilize the broadband to watch Netflix, so that means it is pretty good.....we get anywhere from 1-3 bars of LTE, but it way outperforms that.  We had heard that Verizon worked pretty well here, but you just never know until you get there.  As has been the case for the almost 6 years we have been on the road Verizon continues to deliver no matter where we find ourselves at any given time.

I was able to get our portable fireplace out, put the wheel covers on our ten wheels, and put out some rope lights before I called it 'quits' for the day at 4:30 pm.......we spent the evening watching a few more episodes of 'Mad Men'.....what a well written series!

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.