The day before.....

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6:11 am (PCT) - Saturday - October 7th - 63º F, humidity 21%, wind 3 mph out of the east by northeast.....it will be sunny, and it will be hot.....forecast high for Saturday is 98º F.......yikes!

I was up relatively early, and TLE was not far behind.....we had a busy morning with many things to be accomplished.  I asked the front desk for, and received a late check out time of 1 pm.  We were in our rental Toyota Corolla by 9 am heading into Rancho Cucamonga to see our son, Chris, and his daughter, Cynthia, at his insurance office, and to pick up some mail.....the renewal license tags for the Newell and a new plastic door shelf for our Dometic refrigerator.  Thankfully, both items had arrived via the USPS within the past few days!

From there we headed over to one of our favorite Goodwill stores just a few blocks away where TLE managed to find a couple of pair of khaki pants which she will need for our next job at the Delaware North General Store at the Grand Canyon.....I am still looking.  From the Goodwill we made our way over to the local Rite Aid drug store to pick up some more cigars for me, and a few other necessaries, including a new curling iron for TLE.

Next up was a visit to the local Men's Warehouse to buy a new white, long sleeve dress shirt.  I found exactly the shirt I wanted, with the collar style I like, in the correct neck size on the 50% off rack......that never, ever happens to me.  Within minutes TLE found a new tie that would go with her dress and after transferring about $90 to Men's Warehouse we were on our way to COSTCO to pick up a couple of things and then we were on our way back to Riverside shortly after 12 pm.  We retrieved our luggage from our Marriott room, and checked out just before 1 pm......

In my 'sweet' spot at Simple Simon's

.....next up was lunch at one of our favorite local bistros.....Simple Simon's (still 4 stars on Yelp on almost 900 reviews!).  I had a chicken caesar salad, and TLE had a fruit plate.....we sat outside in the shade enjoying the still coolish air.  I had called the Mission Inn earlier to see if our room would be ready earlier than the normal 4 pm check in time, and was told to check with the front desk about 2 pm to see if the room was ready.  By the time we finished lunch it was about 1:45 so we walked across the street to accomplish the final pre-wedding task.....get a new battery in my gold Seiko dress watch.  By the time the new battery was installed it was just after 2 pm so we walked across the street to the Mission Inn to check on our room status.....it was ready!  We retrieved our key, walked back to the parking structure to retrieve our car, left it with the Valet service, and then went up to our third floor room where we will be living for the next two days.

From this point on things got really hectic.....we (those in the wedding party) were all to meet in the lobby at 2:30 and then be escorted to the chapel for the wedding rehearsal which was to begin at 3pm, then retreat to our rooms around 4:15 to dress for the rehearsal dinner which was scheduled to begin at 5:30......

.....there is a chapel in the Mission Inn where the intimate wedding will be held, and this is my first time seeing it......it is spectacular.....

 The wedding party

........the rehearsal dinner was in one of the Mission Inn restaurants called Bella Trattoria where we dined alfresco.........

......my sister, Hilary, had just arrived shortly before the dinner so she joined us.......of course a picture of two of our youngest grand children (Jolene and Brayden), and our first great grand child (Daniel) was in order.......

Left to right: Nick with Jolene, Sharon with Brayden, and Cynthia with Daniel......makes me happy!

Each male member of the wedding party received a very nice gift......

.....a flask with our first initial engraved upon it, a cigar cutter, and a cigar holder with a cigar inside.......very, very nice, and very, very unexpected.

Any gathering involving Laila's family and ours is quite noisy and raucous.....I wouldn't have it any other way!  By 7:30 the party was beginning to break up so we headed back to our room where we changed into more comfortable clothing and began to watch my Dodgers play the Diamondbacks in game one of their best of five series.....the Dodgers prevailed 9-5.

Now on to the wedding day festivities......by 5:30, or 6 pm I will have a new daughter.......so, "...the day before" festivities are in the books.......

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Flying south with the geese.......

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7:07 am (PCT) - Riverside, CA - Friday - October 6th - 59º F, humidity 40%, wind 3 mph out of northeast......clear blue skies with a forecast high of 97º F!  Sitting here at the Civic Center Marriott in Riverside, CA composing today's missive.

Our flight out of Billings, MT was at 1:30 pm so since we had a 120 mile drive to the airport we left a little after 9 am to be sure that even if 'Murhpy's Law' attempted to intervene we might have time to recover from his efforts.  Trying to figure out what to wear for a flight which originates in, what seems to be, the polar regions, and terminates in SoCal where it was forecast to be in the 90's is challenging.  I opted to wear my cargo shorts, long sleeve Under Armor shirt, socks, shoes, and a flannel shirt.  I added a short sleeve t-shirt to my carry on bag to change into when we hit SoCal.

We arrived at Logan International Airport, unscathed by Mr. Murphy, around 11:15 which gave us over two hours until our flight departed......perfect.  By the time we checked in, got our boarding passes, and passed through the TSA security station it was closing in on noon so we both purchased salads for lunch.  Soon we were hearing the call to begin boarding our flight south to Denver, CO and shortly after that we were hurtling southward at 30,000+ feet.  Our scheduled landing time in Denver was about 2:40 pm, and our connecting flight to John Wayne International Airport in SoCal began boarding around 3:15, so we had, as they say, a tight connection.  The United Airlines flight attendants knew there were about 20 folks on our flight (including ourselves) with very tight connections so upon landing they requested that we all be allowed to deplane first......very, very nice.  We had to essentially cover about one half of the entire concourse to get to gate B49, but we made it with a few minutes to spare, even with a quick bathroom stop along the way.......

Waiting in the 'Group 5' economy lane to board our second flight of the day....I've already shed my flannel shirt

........we arrived in time to get in boarding 'Group 5', and within minutes we were on board for second leg of our journey to SoCal.  This flight had TV screens for DirecTV, so I paid my $5.99 to watch the Boston Red Sox play the Houston Astros in the first game of their 'Best of 5' series.......

.......between that and keeping up with social media on my Samsung Note 5 phone the time passed quickly.  We actually arrived at John Wayne International about 20 minutes early (4:45 pm).  Of course, for anyone who is familiar with SoCal knows that this is right in the middle of the afternoon 'Rush Hour', so we were not optimistic about how long it would take us to drive up to our son's home in Ontario, CA.  Nonetheless, whilst I retrieved our luggage TLE secured our reserved rental car from the Alamo desk, then returned to wait with me for the tardy luggage to arrived at baggage claim #4.  After about 35 minutes it came down the conveyor belt, and we were off......we were merging on to the Newport Freeway (55) about 5:30 pm in bumper to bumper, stop and go traffic.  We estimated it would take us 2 hours to cover the 40+ miles to Ontario.......it's nice to be wrong about something like this once and a while.  Even with the terrible rush hour traffic we managed to arrived at my son's home in one hour and 20 minutes......not too bad!

Tim and Laila (Tim's fiance) graciously hosted a dinner for us with my daughter, Kate, and her family (Nick, Charlie and Jolene), who live in the same neighborhood.  What a wonderful time we had.....many, many hugs were exchanged.......

.......by 9 pm TLE and I were 'toast' from a long day of traveling so we bid adieu to our kids and headed out to Riverside (about 13 miles away) to check into the Marriott for the night.  We were in our room by 9:30 relaxing and thinking about all the fun we will have the next few days......caught this great view of the morning moon over Mt. Rubidoux this morning.....

....so that was our Thursday......time to get dressed and live Friday!

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Octobrrrrrrrr!

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6:36 am - Thursday - Octobrrrrr 5th - 37º F, humidity 83%, wind 6 mph out of the west.....partly cloudy.....forecast high for Livingston, MT is 54º F, and in Billings, MT (where we are headed to catch our plane) 60º F.......and in Riverside, CA (where we will be for the next four days) 90º F!  The forecast high on Saturday, my son's wedding day, is 96º F......my body is in for some big adjusements!

After sitting in one place for the past 3.5 months it was time to change our view once again.  As is always the case when we have been this long in one place I am always wondering if my machinery will function properly after such a long layover.  Will the coach 'air up' as it should?  Will the big Detroit Diesel 6v92 turn over and fire the first try?  Will my speedometer still work (it has broken twice in the last six years, but I have been able to fix it each time)?  This is a big deal for me since my cruise control relies upon a signal from the speedometer signal generator to function......no speedo, no cruise control.  Anyway, those are just a few of the myriad of thoughts swirling through my mind as I wake up Wednesday morning.  Intellectually I believe everything will work as it should, but I tend to be a 'waiting for the other shoe to drop' kind of guy.   

There was not much left for me to do before we hauled anchor.....just basically take off the wheel covers, disconnect the utilities, then drop the trailer on our hitch.....if only it hadn't been soooo cold first thing in the morning.....23º F!  We decided to wait until around 9:30 am to begin to work outside in an effort to avoid possible frost bite....😏  Well, everything went smoothly, and we were ready to fire up the Detroit by 11 am, and within 30 minutes we had the trailer connected to the Newell once again and on our way north.  We left the VW out of the trailer (TLE drove it) as we were only traveling 52 miles to Livingston, and there is still a lot of organizing to be done in the trailer before it is ready for VW insertion.

After an uneventful 60 minute drive we arrived at the RV park in Livingston where we will leave the Newell until we return from SoCal.  We will have 50 amp electrical service for the first time in almost 4 months......it will be wonderful not to have to manage our electrical consumption to avoid tripping the breaker.  We did pretty good this summer only tripping the breaker 3 times.  Now we can run all our electric heaters at the same time, and TLE can even use the hair dryer, or toaster oven without consequence.

Once we were set up and I had a few minutes to relax we got dressed and drove into town to do some 'junkin' and to donate two bags of clothing we had gleaned out of our closets and drawers.........

......as you might recall, we spent part of a day exploring the thrift scene in Livingston about a month ago, so we knew where to go.....I saw this cool sign (above) at the first store we revisited, and had to take a picture for posterity's sake.  In all we visited four thrift stores, but found nothing without which we could not live.  Then it was on to Neptune's Brewery Company out on 'L' Street.......we had not yet visited Neptune (Yelp gives them 4 stars on 47 reviews), so we wanted to do so Wednesday......as the name might indicate, their food specialties are all seafood.....including a beautiful aquarium just below the beer list.....

....TLD ordered a pint of their Latte Stout (5.7% ABV), and I opted for the one just above....Bourbon Aged Scottish Ale (9% ABV)......both were amazing!  For our early dinner TLE ordered their crab rangoons, and I had their fish tacos......so, so yummy!  This place has a completely different vibe than Katabatic, and is quite funky......our kind of place!

We got home just before 5 pm and began the task of getting packed for our 5 days trip to SoCal.....that pretty much took the rest of the evening......usually when we visit SoCal we have our closets with us so no difficult clothing decisions must be made.

Mindy, in the RV park office, told us that this cold weather in October is not the norm....usually the shoulder season in this part of Montana is quite pleasant with daily temps in the 60's and 70's......well it looks like this Octobrrrrr is going to be much, much colder!

Stay tuned for the wedding festivities which begin Friday......three of my siblings will also be in attendance so this will be a wonderful weekend of many hugs, and non-stop conversations.....YAY for our team!

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It is finished......

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6:41 am - Wednesday - October 4th - 23º F (double BRRRR!), humidity 89%, wind - CALM....I would agree....forecast for Gardiner, MT is 51º F, and 49º F in Livingston, MT where we will be later today.....forecast today is partly cloudy this morning with rain later this afternoon.....well after we have rolled our wheels northward.

In spite of all my best intentions not to get emotional Tuesday as I exchanged one 'until next time' after another with more of my co-workers I guess it was inevitable.  I find myself emoting much more easily as I add years to my age.  The longer you spend with people the more attached you become to them, and the more difficult it is to bid them adieu......it is always our intent to reconnect with those who have become friends, but there is a part of me that knows I will never see some of these people again, and that is the part that hurts.....that is the part that makes me tear up.  It's not my intent to be maudlin, but only to describe as accurately as possible what I am feeling at the end of another seasonal job.  Those of you who have worked seasonal jobs know exactly what I am talking about.  Part of me....the part that doesn't like the pain of separation from friends thinks it would be better not to get so attached, but the better part of me knows that as I let people into my life I am changed for the better.....I take a small piece of each of them with me as I move on to another adventure.  When I think of Taylor in the future I will be able to hear her wonderful laugh in my head, and marvel at how brave she is at such a young age to be living her life 'outside the box'......

 Me and my 'Fountain' buddy Taylor together Tuesday for one last shift......this lady can scoop!

......when I think of Bryan I will remember all of the conversations we had about the outdoors, about backpacking, cycling, about his enthusiasm for this nomadic lifestyle he and Caitlin have chosen at such a young age......

 Bryan....the 'Fountain' supervisor....a good man

......when I think of Susan the word 'classy' will always pop into my mind first.......Chuck is the consummate professional.......he is always right to the point.....he always very appreciative of any help you might offer......

 TLE photo bombing......Susan (cashier with TLE) and Chuck (floor supervisor)

........she prefers to be called Caitlin, but Bryan calls her Caitie, and so do I......every time I see her I start smiling, because she is always smiling, upbeat, and professional.....when ever I called for help with a register issue she was there in a flash from wherever she might have been.......

 With Caitlin.....one of our floor supervisors and Bryan's significant other.....she is the sweetest and most conscientious supervisor I have ever had at any seasonal job.

.....then there is Paul, our custodian.......he is the kind of guy you meet sometimes that you would swear you have known for years.......when he talks to you it is like you are the only other person on the room.....we had so many wonderful conversations about everything under the sun, and I will miss that a lot........

Paul.....our custodian.....we had many very interesting talks (Susan the cashier's significant other)

....but now, once again, I must tell each of them 'until next time'......even though I will be separated from them, they will still be with me.....they have become a part of who I am.  Does that make sense?  

Tuesday was much like other recent days in the Mammoth Hot Springs General Store.....not extremely busy.  The time did not seem to drag by so much because I was moving from one 'until next time' conversation to another, and then repeating that pattern all day long.  Around 12:30 pm Kristal, the General Store manager, and our boss called TLE and I into her office to do our 'exit interviews'.  She is the best seasonal boss we have had in the six years we have been on the road......again, very professional, but personable at the same time.  Always a smile, and always a positive word......TLE and I both agreed that we would happily work for her again anywhere she may land.

Around 5 pm Caitlin asked TLE and I to bring our cash drawers to the break room one more time to do our final countdown......this time we kept our big bills.....for me I had two $100 bills, and just added five $20's to those to equal my final $300 count.....all the small bills and coins went into the drop bag, and that was it for me.  TLE actually had three $100 bills so her final countdown was faster than mine.  We turned in our ID cards, our name badges, our red aprons, and our gray jackets (I'm wearing one of them in most of my pictures for this blog entry), exchanged hugs one more time with Caitlin and then we were done.......of course, the tears were not done.....TLE and I both walked to the Beetle wiping tears from our eyes, and then we began our last drive down the Gardiner River Gorge......it has never looked more beautiful than Tuesday evening at 5:30 pm.

We were home a  little after 5:30 still feeling a little emotional, but eventually we began to change our focus to what comes next.....getting ready to roll our 38,000 pounds of steel north to Livingston, MT, and then the drive into Billings Thursday to catch our flight home to see our son, Tim, get married to The Beautiful Laila (TBL).....whew.....I am still tearing up as I finish today's missive......life is, indeed, so good....I am blessed beyond measure.

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One more time........una vez mãs

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5:51 am - Tuesday - October 3rd - Happy birthday to me! - 24º F (I believe it), humidity 82%, wind 3 mph out of the west by northwest......seems much higher than that.....at least 10 mph....cloudy with a forecast high today in Gardiner, MT of 48º F, and 44º F in Mammoth Hot Springs, WY.  No rain forecast today.  As I sit here composing my latest missive the birthday wishes are dinging on my Galaxy Note 5 cell phone.  I've been saying I'm 68 for about 6 months now so I could get used to the sound of it.....now that the big day is here it seems kind of anti climatic.  Maybe I should take up TLE's tradition of saying she is just celebrating the anniversary of her 49th birthday each year.......hmmmm.

Well, Monday is in the history books, and we are down to 'one more time' driving up and then down the Gardiner River Gorge......that's it.....una vez mãs.....as Ferris Bueller is oft and famously quoted......"Life moves pretty fast....if you don't stop and look around once and a while you could miss it".  Thankfully we have been sitting in one place for almost 3.5 months, and while we have missed seeing a few things we made a gallant effort at seeing all the things that held interest for us this time around.  We found out that even if you have 3.5 months of weekends it is still almost impossible to see everything in YNP in that span of time.  Nevertheless, I believe we now have a good working knowledge of this, the first National Park in the world.

We arrived for our second to last work day at the Mammoth Hot Springs General store just after 8:30 am, and within a few minutes were busily getting our stations ready for the opening of the store at 9 am.  There are always a number of folks standing outside awaiting for the doors to be opened at 9 am so we get this initial flurry of activity as the store opens, then things settle down to almost nothing for about an hour.

The outdoor temp never got above 38º F, and every customer coming through our door was wearing winter outerwear.  Ice cream sales were slow, as one might expect, but pretzel sales were brisk all day long. We were fully staffed Monday so I remained at my 'Fountain' assignment for the entire day switching on and off the register with my co-worker Michael.

It was a strictly 'plain vanilla' day at the General Store with nothing new to report.......Michael and I cleaned the 'Fountain' area beginning at 5 pm, and were done by 5:30 pm.....I counted down my cash drawer for the 2nd to last time and was on my way home with TLE a little after 6.  We spent the evening watching the recorded finale of 'So You Think You Can Dance' which was won by Lex.  This is really a popularity contest since the winner is chosen by the viewers of the show, and the best dancer is not always the winner, however, this year I would have been happy with any of the four finalists winning.

We were in bed a little after 9:30 pm thinking about our last day working at the Mammoth Hot Springs General Store, and also about what we still need to do before we rolls our wheels Wednesday.

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Two more times........

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6:09 am - Monday - October 2nd - 32º F, humidity 89%, wind 5 mph out of the north by northwest.....cloudy......low chance of rain (less than 20%)....forecast high for Gardiner, MT today is 40º and 39º F in Mammoth Hot Springs, WY.....WOW, where did that come from?   Woke up to the news that some lunatic male opened fire from a room in a high rise hotel in Las Vegas last evening on a crowd watching a Country Music concert.......50+ killed, and over 200 hundred wounded....makes me glad I spend most of my time in rural America.  My heart goes out to those families who needlessly lost loved ones, and to those who were wounded, or trampled in the madness that ensued.  A good friend, and her daughter managed to escape, but suffered injuries when they fell and were trampled.....fortunately no serious injuries for them......just scrapes and bruises.

What a ride this summer has been!  Friendships continue to deepen as the season winds down.  It's time for another round of 'until next times' replete with long hugs and promises to remain in touch, and to somehow reconnect in the future. These are not hollow promises.....they are heart felt, and I know we will see each other again......

Last 'usie' with Dodge & Christina at the Mammoth Hot Springs General Store.....left to right: Moi, Christina, TLE and Dodge (Kristen)

.......if it is possible, and it certainly is, Sunday seemed to be the slowest day, I believe, at the General Store since we arrived.....painfully slow.  I'm almost positive the clock was running backwards at times.  There was about an hour of pretty steady activity, but that was pretty much it.  One of our fellow employees injured her back slipping and falling on a patch of ice in the employee parking lot on her way into work.  She attempted to man her post as a cashier, but by noon she was sent home in pain.  As a result I was asked to move my cash drawer over to the retail desk for the rest of the afternoon where I once again got to work alongside TLE.  I've enjoyed the change of pace the past two days as it is a little bit busier at the retail desk than at the 'Fountain'.

We closed the store at 6 pm, and were on our way down the Gardiner River Gorge once again......this time headed for the Rusty Rail to have a few drinks with Dodge (floor supervisor) and Christina (stocker)........we laughed and did some crying....this will be our last time at the Rusty Rail this summer, and we will miss these folks terribly......

Last 'usie' with our good buddy Dodge (Kristen) at the Rusty Rail....."Love you, mean it!"

.......by 8:30 we hugged some more, then slobbered a little more, then went home.......just two more times up and down the Gardiner River Gorge before we roll our wheels!

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Three more times.......

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5:52 am - Sunday - October 1st - 29º F, humidity 83%, wind 5 mph out of the west by northwest.......partly cloudy......forecast high for today in Gardiner, MT is 44º F, and 42º F in Mammoth Hot Springs, WY.....rain, maybe, this afternoon.

I know, the title was sort of predictable if you know me a little, but I like countdowns.....just three more times driving up the Gardiner River Gorge road to Mammoth Hot Springs to work, and the same number driving back down to our home.  The days are going by quickly as the General Store is staying comfortably busy during the day......

......once again I was paired with Addie and Jonah.  Under the new schedule (9 am to 6 pm) we begin our workday at 8:45 am in order to get the fountain area ready for business by 9 am.  It takes just about 15 minutes to get the hot dogs on the rollers, the chili heating up, the pretzels cooked and on display, and pull the lids off the ice cream tubs in the freezer.  Then we stand around for about 2 hours before things begin to get even a little busy.  Most of our early sales are coffee, hot chocolate and hot cider.....we may even sell a few soft pretzels.  Between 11 am and noon we usually get a small rush of folks dropping in for an early lunch at which time our hot dog and bratwurst sales accelerate, and we even begin to dish out a few scoops of ice cream.  Then there is a lull for about 45 minutes to an hour, but by 2 pm things pick up and stay comfortably busy for the rest of the shift.

The makeup of the post Labor Day tourists is completely different from that of July and August.  The people we are seeing now in YNP seem much more courteous in many ways.  We actually see folks pulling into the 'PULL OUTS' to let faster traffic pass them......we rarely, if ever saw this in June, July, or August.  Rarely do you see people just stop in the middle of the road to take pictures of a bison some 100 yards off the road......instead they find a place to pull over, and then stop to take their pictures...what a novel concept!  Those coming into the store seem much more aware of their surroundings, and rarely have to ask what a particular ice cream's ingredients might be, or where the nearest public restroom might be.....they actually either figure it out on their own, or actually read the numerous signs we have on display to explain the various flavors of ice cream we serve, and where the public restroom is.  For the most part the mix of folks, as one of our supervisors related, is made up of 'newlyweds, and the nearly dead'.....in other words......20 somethings and older retired folk.....very few young children.

As I was nearing the end of my shift in the 'Fountain' our floor supervisor (Dodge) asked if I would move my cash drawer over the retail desk at 5:30 as one of the cashiers went home ill (Thomas).....of course, I said yes.  Actually, we were done cleaning the fountain by 5:20 so I moved my drawer then, and spent the last 40 minutes working beside The Lovely Elaine.  We closed the doors at 6 pm, and then counted down our drawers......we were on our way down the Gardiner River Gorge by 6:15 pm.....the end of 'another day in paradise'.

Just three more work days until we roll our wheels......time is short, and another wave of 'until next times' is just around the corner.

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