Leonardo is here!

5:54 am - Thursday:  As I write this morning I am struggling with a few issues with my computer....I finally succumbed and upgraded to Windows 10.  I always dread these software upgrades whether on my phone, or laptop.  There are always a few bugs to work out and one of mine is my sound no longer works.  Apparently I'm going to have to uninstall a couple of programs and then re-install them to get the updated Windows 10 drivers.  I feel like I have lost 5 hours of my life I will never get back.  Also, as I write I am realizing this is the last morning I get up at 5:30 am in order to be at the office/store with TLE to open for the day.  Friday I will be able to sleep in, and not be at work until 4 pm.  I'll have time for a solo bike ride, which I have not had time to take for a while.  We are both looking forward to our new schedule.

So, what happened Wednesday?  Well, the TFE people (Tahoe Family Encampment - Seventh Day Adventists) began arriving to set up their large circus type tent, and get ready for their week long tent meeting.  The influx of the advance party, and then the arrival of the attendees will put us near 100% capacity for the next few weeks.  Why 'weeks'?  Because they are followed immediately by another church group who will use the same facilities for a another week long tent meeting.  From beginning to end it all lasts about 3 weeks.

My rounds went normally.....no issues, so I went down to the maintenance yard to pick up my red paint and brush to work some more on painting the many tent site posts which have been neglected for a decade, or more.  I did that for a while and then about 11 am I set out to make sure all those on my 'Departure' list were either departing, or departed.  I ended up with two who had not departed at 11:10 am, and one of them was out fishing.....the other was waiting to move into the spot occupied by the fishermen.  The fisherman finally returned about 11:30 to move to their new site, but they had an issue with their automatic awning refusing to be automatic.  They finally, after an hour, had to manually retract it, but finally about 12:30 they moved, and then the other folks were able to move.

As you know I recently put up 5 'No Stopping Anytime', 'No Parking Anytime' signs along the exit road to keep folks from stopping/parking to attach their 'toads' (private passenger vehicles which are towed behind a motorhome), or fiddle with their trailers, etc. which causes traffic to back up and also creates an unsafe situation with cars attempting to pass by entering the opposing traffic lane.  I don't catch as many people stopping there as I used to, but there are a few souls undaunted by the numerous signs forbidding what they want to do who stop anyway.  When I drive up and ask them if they noticed the signs they always say "yes, but"....the "but" part is always amusing to me.  Yesterday the gentleman's excuse was his wife had a 'medical emergency' as they were rounding the corner, and he had to stop. I looked around for the ambulance, the flashing lights and listened for the sirens, but saw and heard nothing.  I noted it was the wife who exited the truck and walked back to the trailer rather casually......nothing emergency looking about her whatsoever.....go in the trailer and emerge a few minutes later.  She apparently forgot some medication inside the trailer....that was her "medical emergency".  You've got to love it, right?

We only had 50+ arrivals scheduled for Wednesday, which is not normally a big deal, except they all apparently decided to arrive between 1:30 and 3 pm.....that was a crazy 90 minutes!  Several times I had RV's backed up to the trolley station, but managed to keep them moving to their sites using our speedy check-in system.  

Since Wednesday was the end of the current two week pay period and I hit my 80 hours by 3 pm I punched the clock and headed for the barn.....TLE followed a hour later to find me napping.  She prepared Margaritas for our cocktail hour on the veranda and we sat talking until close to 6 pm before we ate dinner.

We were in bed by 9:30 pm.....the last time we do that for a while!  Thanks for stopping by!

Oh!  By the way, we just found out my brother, Philip's son Ryan and his wife had their second child last night.....welcome to the world Leonardo Ryan!

Our extended family continues to grow.....hello Leonardo!

Shifty....

Tuesday began as most days for me here at TVC and then proceeded to morph into something completely unexpected.  Just after I finished my morning rounds I picked up a can of red paint and a paint brush from the maintenance shed intending to spend a few hours applying a new coat of paint to the tent site posts in Section E when I heard a call over the two way radio indicating there was an issue with the electrical in the group bathrooms, and the group kitchen......the problem?  There was NO electricity.  I met Adam there and he told me he had come in Monday (his day off) for 5 hours trying, with our electrical contractor (Winters Electric) to figure out how to restore power.  They had not been able to figure out what the problem was so here we were again on Tuesday trying to figure out what happened.  I called my friend Harry who worked here at TVC last year and was very familiar with the electrical grid.....he lives just a couple blocks away and met us at the group restroom in 5 minutes.  With Harry's help we devised a temporary solution to restore power at both locations.

The two group restrooms do not need a lot of power......just lights and a fan, and the group kitchen just has lights and a couple of 110 electrical outlets, so we first decided to (temporarily) run a 'jumper' from the electrical pedestal in 481 by plugging into the 30 amp receptacle using a male 30 amp plug and then connecting that to about 30 feet of Romex which we ran to the group restroom breakers where we wired it directly into the breakers.  We flipped the breaker at the pedestal then the two breakers at the restroom and we had lights and fans!

Next we went to the group kitchen where we tapped into the 50 amp box there, which is on a different circuit, connecting to one of the 50 amp legs, the neutral and the ground with another 6 foot length of Romex which we ran to the junction box inside the kitchen area.  Within minutes we had power restored to the kitchen.  Mind you, these are temporary fixes. It appears, that like happened in our site, one of the underground cables has failed which will involve a lot of digging, which we cannot do with the park so full of RV's and tenters right now.  Thank you Harry for your time and help....we couldn't have done it without you!

By the time we finished with all that fun....and it was fun.....it was 1 pm and I hadn't eaten lunch yet so I 'clocked out' and headed for the Newell to have a sandwich.

In the mean time TLE was spending time with Robert, our manager, working on a new schedule, which I alluded to in yesterday's missive.  The big change, which has been approved by both Robert and Victor, is that TLE and I will take over the late shift beginning at 4 pm each day we work until 1 am (an hour lunch is factored in).  The problem we have run into is the two folks assigned to that shift have not been doing the job, and really need direct supervision so they will transition to the day shift where they (a couple of 20 somethings) will have plenty of supervision.  Personally I would have fired them, but I am not in charge.  At any rate we are both excited about the change.  Why? Well, right now I get up at 5:30 am to be on the job by 7:30 am.....by the time I get home after 8 hours of work I am tired and don't feel like riding my bike, or doing much else for that matter.  Under the new schedule we will be off by 1 am (I'll be doing night rounds/security and helping TLE clean the office/recreation room/laundry each evening after 10 pm to make sure they are ready for the new day).  I'll be in bed by 2 am, up by 10 am feeling fresh and ready for a ride.....we don't go to work until 4 pm so there is time for a nap, and relaxation before we go on duty.  I think I will like this better, and so does TLE.  We are, after all, used to working the late shift at Amazon and do quite well at it.  The change goes into effect beginning Friday!

I did finally get to that painting I had planned to do in the morning and got three site posts painted. I'll work on the rest Wednesday.  We were home a little after 4 pm knowing we only have two more early mornings before our new schedule kicks in.  We sipped some wine, then TLE made some eggs and french toast for dinner.

Thanks for stopping by!

Jello gazing.....

You might recall that our daughter, Meredith, visited here at TVC with her friend Amy a couple of weeks ago.  On their way out of town and back to SoCal they stopped off for breakfast at a place near Stateline called 'A Cup of Cherries' on the spur of the moment.  They raved about their breakfast of Island Pancakes and insisted we must go there for breakfast one time.  Just after I finished dumping the tanks I made a call to Sunset Isle RV Park in Cedar Key, FL to make reservations for 5 weeks beginning in January.  It has been a few years since we were last there and 2017 is the year we will return.

After taking care of a few morning chores (dump the tanks, remove the wood panels covering the solar panels, and clean off the solar panels) we headed out on our Cannondale Tandem for a 16 mile ride which would include a stop at the aforementioned 'A Cup of Cherries' for a latish breakfast.  We left TVC about 10:30 am and arrived at the restaurant by 10:50.......

'Island Pancakes'

.....we found an alfresco table just outside the entrance and quickly snagged it.  Of course I had to order the Island Pancakes which come with perfectly cooked bacon.....as my daughter remarked, "It is magical", and I would agree.  Yelp gives them 4 stars on over 400 reviews.....spot on!

About 11:30 we continued our 16 mile loop by riding further east on US 50 to the intersection of Ski Run Blvd. where we turned south for a few blocks to pick up Pioneer Blvd. where we turned west covering about 7 miles once again connecting with US 50 where we turned east once again to head for the barn.  We were back home by 12:30 sitting in the shade and relaxing.

I spent part of the afternoon talking with our current neighbor, Scott, who is an instructor of Yoga instructors.....he teaches others how to teach Yoga.  In addition he is an acupuncturist, and an herbalist.  He travels around the world teaching yoga, and uses South Lake Tahoe as his base.  He has lived in SLT for over 40 years, and became a full time RV'er about 2 years ago when he decided to simplify his life.....a very familiar story.  

About 5 pm I got out a Cuban cigar that had been given to me by a customer over the 4th of July weekend as a 'Thank You' for help I had given him and his family when they first arrived.....

.....I savored every puff!  At 6 I grilled up some carne asada for street tacos to accompany some Mexican (pinto) beans TLE had been preparing all day.  We sat talking until well after 7 pm before heading inside as the chill of the evening began to descend over TVC once again.

In closing, there are some possible schedule changes coming for us later in the week.  Right now the changes are in the discussion stage with our manager, Robert, but we should know in the next couple of days if they will come to fruition.  The changes will be dramatic for us, but are totally our idea.   Robert seems to be buying into our suggestions, and we are very excited about the new possibilities for us.....stay tuned!

Thanks for stopping by!

Being 'green'....

6:35 am - Monday - As I wrote yesterday morning (Sunday) I was up watching the British Open at 7:34 am.  By the time I tuned in Phil Mikelson and Henrik Stenson were tied at 14 under par.  As the morning progressed they were tied at 17 under with 2, or 3 holes to go and then suddenly Henrik pulled ahead by two strokes, then finished with a birdie on the 18th and final hole to win by 3.  The nearest competitors to these two were 14 strokes behind Henrik Stenson when it was over, and 11 behind Phil.  Phil Mikelson made no mistakes......he had a bogey free round......in essence he got beat by 10 birdies in 18 holes by Henrik Stenson.  It was one of the most amazing finishes at a Major I have ever seen, and I am so grateful I was off work Monday to watch it happen.  

Near the end of the tournament TLE and I decided to begin to roll out the large piece of artificial turf I wrote about last week to see how it would fit in our site.  Within an hour we had it laid out and held in place by large nail type spikes.  We moved our awning mat to become the walkway back to the trailer.......

.....it's hard to tell the awning mat is back there in the picture above as the intense sunlight washes out the color in the picture.  TLE had the vision of how to lay it out, and I helped execute her vision....it came out wonderfully, and we love our new environment!

After The Open (the British do not call their 'Open' the British Open.....they just call it 'The Open') had finished we spent the rest of the day relaxing outside reading and napping.  I was able to finish a book I began reading over a month ago.  By 6 pm I was grilling Pollo Asado for our taco salad dinner, and after we finished eating we sat by the fire for an hour, or so......

.....we went inside around 7:30 and watched a recorded episode of 'Last Ship', then 'Naked and Afraid: XL'......in the regular 'Naked and Afraid' they must survive for 21 days without clothing, or shelter.....in the XL version they go 40 days and there are 4 three person teams deployed with miles of each other.  This season they are somewhere in South Africa living in one of the most inhospitable places on earth right along with lions, tigers, elephants, etc.  We were in our wonderfully comfortable bed before 11 with smiles on our faces, and grateful we were not sleeping on the ground with ticks, naked and afraid!

Thanks for stopping by!

'Duty to other people'

7:34 am - Ahhh Sunday, sweet Sunday.....a day off and I managed to sleep in two hours beyond my normal rising time.  Saturday with it's 96 arrivals was a total outlier......a typical Saturday is 40-50 arrivals and a like number of departures.  As soon as I saw the numbers I knew it was going to be a busy day.  My morning rounds took longer than normal due to the occupancy rate being near 100%.  

I was on my way back to the office/store when I noticed someone had parked a Class A motorhome at the stop sign coming out of Sections A & E facing the office/store.  This happens occasionally, but it is beyond me why any mature adult would think it was safe, legal, or proper to park their vehicle at a stop sign and walk away.  We have narrow roads within the park and the only result on a Saturday morning with all the attendant activity will be traffic backing up, and people trying to go around the parked vehicle, in this case a large motorhome, blind.  A perfect recipe for a vehicle verses bicycle, or pedestrian accident.

As it turned out the driver was in the office/store filing a noise complaint from the night before.  I entered the store and asked for everyone's attention.  I then asked who owned the Class A motorhome parked at the stop sign.  Everyone near me said 'Not me', then I spied a gentleman standing at the back desk talking to one of our staff....he had not responded so I walked over to him and asked him if that Class A was his.  He replied that it was.....I told the staff member that whatever they were talking about (the noise complaint I later learned) was unimportant at this point........I had to have him move his motorhome immediately as he had created a dangerous situation.  He didn't feel he was done venting his spleen and continued on about the noise form the night before.  I again said "Sir, you must move your motorhome immediately!  You are putting people at risk!".....he finally turned and came with me.  On our way out to his rig he continued to complain to me and then said he only parked there because he needed to use the dump station and didn't know where it was......I pointed out he was parked directly next to a large yellow and blue sign (6' x 8') with the word "DUMP" and a large arrow pointing the direction to the dump station.  Then it came out he really parked there because he was mad at us......this final statement coming from a Boy Scout Troop leader in uniform.  I wondered to myself how his actions comported with the Boy Scout Pledge (#2 - Duty to other people).....it probably didn't.  Apparently in the mind of this supposedly mature adult Scout leader he was justified in setting aside the pledge and put people at risk all because his neighbor had been too noisy the night before.  I wonder what lesson the Scouts sitting in his motorhome will retain in the years to come from this weekend.....probably the last thing they witnessed.

The rest of the day saw me running from one task to another.....pumping propane, watching the entrance drive, taking people to storage to drop trailers, answering questions, assisting folks into their sites, etc.

I was determined to be off the clock by 4 pm and not work one minute of overtime......at 3:40 I drove my cart back to the yard, washed and dried it, put it in the cart shed, plugged it in and was back to the office at 3:58 to punch the clock.

I beat TLE home by 15 minutes and was just ending a deliciously hot shower when she came in the door......I got dressed quickly and began our walk over to Lake Tahoe Pizza for a pitcher of 'ICKY' IPA and a Jackpot Pizza replete with anchovies.  We sat talking and unwinding from our work week for over an hour before beginning a slow ambling walk home.  I just felt like I needed to get off site for a while and it worked wonders.  

I spent the evening watching a recording of Saturday's British Open round dominated by Phil Mickelson and Henrik Stenson....what a great round.  They will both be paired for the final round Sunday, and as I type I am watching a 'duel to the death'....the lead has changed hands 8 times in the last 12 holes!!

Thanks for stopping by!

"If it weren't for the honor....."

Friday we edged closer to 100% occupancy.....we even have three, count them, three large groups in the Group area, and another large group renting most of our tent sites in Section E.  Friday felt, and looked a lot like the 4th of July weekend without the attendant noise.  According to Victor, our assistant manager, our bookings are up 30% from 2015, and we will be at, or near maximum occupancy the rest of the summer.  As my father used to say, "Clarke, if it weren't for the honor, I'd just as soon pass on that....".  The 'Arrivals' report showed 126 for the day.....yup, feels a lot like 4th of July.

Prior to making my morning rounds I picked up trash around the office/store which includes the playground in back.....the amount of trash was surprising, and disappointing.  We provide a lot of trash cans but somehow people have no time to walk a few feet to drop an empty, or almost empty plastic bottle, candy wrapper, or popsicle stick in one.

By the time I made morning rounds it was time to investigate the 'Overflow Area' to be sure there were no illegal campers out there.  I found no illegal campers, but I did find an electrical outlet/post had been knocked over, so I headed for the maintenance yard to pickup a new post, paint it and then head back out with the posthole digger.......

Maybe the red post will be more noticeable....

......the ground was soft, so it took just a minute, or two to dig the new hole, then reattach the outlet, and secure the conduit.......just as I was finishing I got the first of many calls requesting assistance to help someone into their site.  The closer we get to 100% occupancy the more difficult some sites become to enter.  I alternated between watching the entrance so traffic did not back up, and helping folks get into their sites the rest of the day.  It got so busy near the end of my shift that I wasn't able to clock out at the usual 4 pm.......TLE and I finally extricated ourselves from our shift about 5:15 pm and headed for the barn.

Just before the end of the day the reservation system crashed, and didn't come back up until after 6 pm, so, no doubt, there will be a lot of catching up to do Saturday morning when we clock back in for the last day of our 5 day work week.

On a side note I just noticed we passed 500,000 views of our blog a couple of days ago.....we currently stand at 500, 807.  I say often that I am always humbled, and surprised that anyone besides my children and close relatives read my daily ramblings, so a big 'THANK YOU!' to all of you who take the time to read, and sometimes comment......I do appreciate all of you who follow our adventure.

Thank you!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cruise control

We're at that part of the summer when one day begins to blend into another, and I wake up some mornings wondering what day of the week it is.  Eventually, usually when I sit down at my computer and look up at the small calendar on the wall near my laptop, I figure out it is Friday, and then I realize I have missed the first round of the British Open which began Thursday.  In addition to that the Tour de France has been in full swing for 10+ days.....since both of these sporting events are situated in the Western European time zones I can watch them live at 5:30 am when I get up each day.  I see that Phil Michelson carded a record tying 63 Thursday and leads the 2016 edition of the British Open.  As I type I listen, with occasional glances up at the TV, to the announcers on the golf channel telling me what they want me to know about Friday's round now in progress......hmmmm...life feels good.

The days are becoming routine because it seems everyone has finally settled into their jobs and are getting them done, and are mostly showing up every day for their shifts.  We've been able to solve most of our electrical issues so far this summer thanks to our new maintenance manager Adam.  All the new traffic signs we have installed are helping traffic move smoothly throughout the park, and the new stop signs are slowing things down noticeably.  

Thursday we found ourselves at just over 80% of capacity.....like I wrote yesterday, we are in the 'sweet spot' right now, and all the hard work we have put in since early May is beginning to pay dividends.....it feels like cruise control.  There is nothing remarkable to report about Thursday......we took our usual pallet of ice delivery, I pumped propane, I made my rounds, answered questions, helped folks into their sites, calmed a couple of guys down who were determined to have an argument with me, but ended up shaking hands at the end of it all.

TLE clocked out about 3:45, and I followed 15 minutes later......by 4:15 we were sitting outside enjoying the early evening air, talking, and taking occasional sips of our adult beverages of choice.  I love sitting outside taking in the splendor of the large sugar pines, some of which are close to, if not over 100' tall......our site is surrounded by these giant, silent sentinels.......

Directly next to our Newell

......we ate dinner alfresco once again.....I grilled some 'dogs and TLE provided some rice and a small caesar salad as the sides.  Thursday was everything I love about spending the summer in South Lake Tahoe!

Thanks for stopping by!