Sunday Night at Fort Lewis

Hello on this cool evening from Ft. Lewis.

It has been a very long week here though we got very little hours. Ron worked set up on Tuesday and Wednesday, finishing up on Thursday morning. I set up the ticket box on Wednesday ~ it took me about an hour to get it ready for Thursday.

Tuesday night Kollin and Ruben joined us for dinner. I made BBQ pork sandwiches on onion bagels, peach jello w/fruit cocktail and red beans & rice. It was a nice evening. Ron and I are trying to have different people over at each location to get to know them a little better. I am thinking that while we are in Portland I am going to make a ham w/pineapple slices and glaze of brown sugar & mustard with scalloped potatoes. I will have to wait and see what looks good at the grocery store on our way to Portland.

Wednesday morning I was rudely awakened by one of the guys swearing and yelling. After I got up and moving I opened the door and the guy was standing right there across from our door. His room in the condo is parked right across from us here at Ft. Lewis. Right after I opened my door someone else was swearing quite loudly and I stepped out and said I did not want to hear that kind of language and I especially did not appreciate being woke up hearing that kind of talk. It immediately got quiet in our area. I am happy to say for the most part the yelling has stopped.

Thursday both Ron and I worked at the carnival selling tickets. It was "wrist band day" translation ~ you can ride all the rides all day long for $20 rain or shine. And boy did it rain. We had numerous down pours but people still came. A couple of the rides, Dragon Wagon ~ a small roller coaster that looks like a dragon and the Convoy Racers ~ a variety of vehicles going around a race track and up a small incline, do not do well in the rain so some little ones were disappointed at times. We were open from 3:00 to 9:15. It was so cold when we got back to the motor home I had Ron get the hot chocolate out of the storage compartment. Let me just say, I don't think I have enjoyed a cup of hot cocoa as much as I did that night.

Friday Ron had the day off though he went over to the lot for the safety meeting. The meeting lasts about 15 to 20 minutes and covers a variety of topics. I usually take the minutes for the safety meetings. The main topic of discussion was about our upcoming time in Portland for the Rose Festival. First off the bone yard is actually at the Funtastic Shows shop. It is the same place we went to in February for our interview. Topics that were covered were security, laundry, acceptable behavior ~ which may be hard for some of the people as there is absolutely no drinking allowed there, rules about parking personal vehicles ~ not allowed on the shop property, people must park on the street and carry their groceries from the street to their condos or rigs as well as haul their laundry from their condos or rigs to their cars on the street. It was explained that there are security cameras every where. Rick reminded everyone to "mind their P's & Q's" while there. He does not want anyone from our unit, the blue unit, to get fired while we are there. He said that last year one person was fired at 2:00 a.m. and told to leave the property right then and that one person working in Portland this week had already been fired. I think he said the word "fired" at least 20 times in 20 minutes. Rick could not say it enough ~ be mindful of your behavior both at the Rose Festival and in the bone yard. People are watching (along with numerous video cameras at the shop) so nothing goes unnoticed. After the meeting Ron & I said we are so glad we have our sweet little home to go home to each night.

I worked Friday from 2:45 to 8:30 p.m. It was a pretty slow day and once the rains hit in the evening we had absolutely no one at the carnival. Ron watched movies and read during his time off. Friday night we borrowed a couple of movies from Albert & Shawn. Ron watched S.W.A.T. and we both watched Rumor Has It.

Saturday morning we got up and walked over to the laundromat. It is about a half mile walk. Laundry here was really cheap compared to the last couple of places we have been. $1.25 to wash and a $1 to dry. While waiting for the laundry to get done we walked around the little mall that was next door. They had a furniture store, a game store, the Class 6 store - otherwise known as the liquor store, the clothing store and a delightful little candy shop. Of course we had to go into the candy shop. They had 14 different kinds of licorice, some old time favorites like Big Hunk and of course the gummy type candies ~ one of which was a gecko. They also had some different kinds of chocolates including truffles. I had a dark chocolate raspberry truffle and Ron had an amaretto truffle.

Ron had to be at work at 11:45. I had the day off. I did some much needed cleaning here in the motor home. Things had kinda not been done while we were in Sequim and Port Townsend as we spent our time off there walking around and enjoying the area. I then spent time reading blogs that I follow, writing a few emails and reading a book. Ron said they stayed pretty steady at the carnival throughout most of the day. He got home about 9:30 p.m.

Today has been a pretty good day too. I went to work at 12:45 and worked till a little after six. We had pretty good weather, the first day without rain since we have been here. We never did have a big rush but just stayed pretty steady. The carnival was open from 1:00 to 6:00. It took me all of about 10 minutes to clean things up inside the ticket box and get it ready for travel tomorrow to Portland. Ron had the afternoon off. He was kept busy with getting the motor home ready for our trip tomorrow. He took the window cover off the front window, put away the area rug that we call our patio, put the lawn chairs up on top of the motor home in the carrier, put the bikes up on the back of the rig, hooked the TV up to its holder for traveling and even did the dishes. He is such a sweet hubby! Ron started work at 6:00 doing tear down. The guys are hoping that it will be done by midnight as we have an early morning tomorrow. We are all hoping to be up and on our way to Portland by 8:30 a.m. The drivers are supposed to be here at 8:00 in the morning to move the condos.

We plan on making a couple of stops on our way to Portland: Costco and Winco to get groceries. Because we will be in Portland for three weeks we want to stock up as much as we can since we don't know our full schedule and whether or not we will be working the same shifts. We don't know about grocery runs or what is even within walking distance.

One of the things we are looking forward to during our time in Portland is meeting Dave & Carol K., fellow RV'rs who live in Vancouver, WA. I have gotten to know them through their blogs. I don't know how to insert their links here or else I would do that. They are pretty interesting to read and both show great pictures of the trips they have taken. Carol and Dave have invited us out for dinner as well as a place to do laundry...yippee...new friends and I don't have to go to the laundromat! They have even offered to pick us up at the bone yard! It couldn't get any better. We will be spending time with them on one of our days off. Thanks Carol and Dave for the invites and we look forward to meeting you in person.

I have been asking Theresa all week for the schedule for the rest of the season. Today she told me that there are still some possible changes in the schedule so she just told me where we are going the next few stops.

Monday, May 24 ~ drive to Portland for Rose Festival. The festival runs from 5/28 to 6/13. Closed on June 1, 7 & 8. The carnival will be set up at the Waterfront Park. Ron will be working rides and I will be working with Wendy in the Hamburger Palace.

Monday, June 14 ~ drive to Marysville for the Strawberry Festival. The carnival is open 6/17 to 6/20 and is being held at the Marysville Middle School.

Monday, June 21 ~ drive to Puyallup for the Taste of Tacoma. We will be parked at the Puyallup Fair Grounds for this event. The Taste of Tacoma is from 6/25 to 6/27 and is being held at Point Defiance Park.

***Note: we have been told we have a few days off between the Taste of Tacoma and the 4th of July. If we do we will be off from 6/28 to 7/1. IFFFF....we have off those days we plan on going up to Blaine to see our kids, granddaughter and friends. I will keep you updated about this. As soon as we have more info I will post it.***

Thursday, July 1 ~ drive to Puyallup Fair Grounds where we will be parked for the 4th of July which the carnival will be at Ft. Lewis for a one day show.

Monday, July 5 ~ drive to Kent, WA for the Kent Cornucopia Days which is being held July 8th to 11th.

that is the schedule so far. I will give updates on where we are parked at each location as I get it. The typical work week is Monday is a travel day, Tuesday and Wednesday is set up days. The guys usually work 8 to 5 on Tuesday, maybe a little later on Wednesday. I usually do the set up for the ticket box on Wednesday afternoons. Sometimes Ron has to work Thursday mornings if there is last minute stuff to be finished up for set up. Thursday the carnival usually opens at 3:00 p.m. Friday's hours vary depending on the location. Saturday we usually open at noon and 1:00 p.m. on Sundays.


Praises and Prayer Requests ~~

~ praise that Jamie and Suzanne bought themselves a 31' travel trailer and will no longer be living in a 22' Class C motor home.

~ praise that we have had a good week here at Ft. Lewis even though the work hours were few.

~ prayer for safety for the guys as they do the tear down tonight. They are hoping to be done in six hours.

~ prayer for safety for us and no problems with the motor home as we travel to Portland tomorrow.

~ prayer that we will settle into our new jobs and catch on real quick to our new duties.

~ continued prayer for Danalyn and Brandon and that Danalyn will be able to return to work soon.

Sorry this post has been so long but I seemed to have lots to write about. Hope it didn't bore you too much. I enjoy writing about what we are doing and where we are. I just hope you enjoy reading it as much as I like writing it.

Wishing each of you a good week this coming week. If you stop by and read our updates drop me a note to say hello. I love to read and receive comments from those who visit Ali's Page.