Fingers Crossed

The weather has been less desirable with the frigid temperatures, snow, rain and winds so we have just been working our shifts and hanging close by on our days off.  This weather should be improving soon…fingers crossed!

We did have a small window of opportunity to take another short trip into Panguitch, Utah on Saturday for some needed items and the scenery was different with the clouds and precipitation that was all around.

We are working days shifts, Monday through Friday with the weekends off and IF we believe the weather forecasters we might get a nice weekend this upcoming one.  If that happens our plan is to drive the shuttle into Bryce Canyon and take some photos and just enjoy the views.

We finally got the inner tube for Jerry’s bike tire in the snail mail this weekend that had to be special ordered since it is an odd one and because the weather has been frightful, he may have to wait another day or two before he can get it fixed.  The highs for our two days off were only 40 with rain, snow and high winds so he opted to walk to work a few more days instead.  Monday evening looks better for outside chores and since we get off at 3pm there is at least 5 hours of daylight warmth for him to get it done. They are calling for temps to be in the upper 50’s with no rain, snow or winds in the forecast so he may have a great opportunity to repair it after work on Monday…again fingers crossed!

We are both doing well on the registers and are meeting some wonderful people, both employees and guests and really look forward to hanging out with some of them once we are able to be outside for more than a few moments. Also, once the weather improves we will be taking off on our two days off and exploring the wonderful areas and will have much more to write about. Until then we hope you are all safe in your travels and your weather is cooperating.

For more photos, check out our Google + Web Albums.

Our First Week at Ruby’s General Store

It was definitely eventful…

We had frigid temperatures and even had a few inches of snow, not our favorite weather but we survived without too many tears or sleepless nights. We will take this weather over any of the storms, tornadoes and windy stuff they are having all over the country lately.

The evening the snow was falling hard, we had a great show right out our front windshield. Check out all the deer who came up so close to us as if they were welcoming us into their neighborhood. They were frolicking and just having a great time and we loved watching them.

We are about a hundred miles away from a Walmart shopping trip which we plan to take once we get our first full paycheck in a few weeks. Otherwise until then we will just be hanging around the camping area since our funds are low and meeting the other workers that are arriving daily. We did take a short trip into Panguitch for a few needed items and more photos of this spectacular area.

They hire over 600 employees per spring/summer season and are a mix of locals and travelers like us and one very important decision we made is to plan to stay out of the politics and all the drama people that try to get us to whine and complain about how rough things are because in all honesty this company treats us very well. After only a week we can see the respect we get and the enthusiasm they have for us being here to work with them.

We are staying in a great area away from the hustle and bustle of the guests where the other sites are occupied by other workers and our particular site faces the woods where we get to have daily showings of the different animals around the area. We have seen deer and antelope so far but the elk will be showing themselves in just a few weeks according to the locals, and we are excited for that viewing.

As of now we are working days, Monday through Friday with Saturday and Sundays off. We are hoping we stay on the day shift but our days off end up being during the week since we plan to take off on those two days and explore the area and would prefer the weekday rates and busyness. 

We have both adapted to the registers and Jerry is really shinning in his new role, he is a natural and I love watching him with the customers and his confidence level with the register is wonderful to see.  This is really going to be a fantastic summer!

We have already taken hundreds of photos so check them out at our Google + Web Albums.

From One Extreme to Another

What a huge weather difference!  We went from highs near 100 and lows in the 60’s to highs barely in the 60’s and lows in the 20’s…OMG!  It will take a little getting used to but we will be fine, just a bit of adjusting to the weather and the altitude.  It is a bit early to come in this direction already but soon it will warm up a bit and not be so extremely cold at night.

The area is spectacular, Utah is beautiful and we are going to enjoy all the places we plan to visit this summer.  For now we will just get adjusted to the altitude and weather and get trained to work in the General Store at Ruby’s and before we know it we will not even notice the difference.

The drive was amazing, we took our time and once we entered Utah, the camera was almost non-stop in taking photos.  We remember the areas we came through, and even remember taking photos but of course since we no longer have those photos from 10 years ago we are recreating and plan to have a blast doing it.

We got settled into our site and we are very happy with it.  It is located in a brand new area where all the employees are setup, way away from all the hustle and bustle of the busy area but close enough for a nice bike ride to work.  Maggie faces the trees where sightings of animals is likely but at the same time we have no trees over us, just wide open skies.

We have the weekend to get settled in before we start training on Monday and then work will begin full time with 2 days off a week to go exploring.  We are so ready for some fun times that not even the weather will be able to stop us from enjoying it all.

These are just a few of the many photos we have already taken with thousands more to come, check them out at our Google + Web Albums.

St. George RV Resort

St. George/Hurricane KOA

5800 North Highway 91

Hurricane, UT  84737

435-879-2212

Visits - 8/30-9/6/2011, 3/27-4/1/2012, 5/21/2012, 4/9/2015

2015 UPDATE - Major changes to this resort.  KOA took over but they are still accepting Coast to Coast reservations, charging $10 in points and $4.46 at arrival for fees and taxes.  It has definitely changed to a KOA park including loads of kids, barking dogs and sites piled on top of one another.  We will not be staying here again if they stop accepting our Coast to Coast and even then it will be for one night while passing through.

Coast to Coast, Encore Park, Thousand Trails, NACO, & Leisure Time is accepted.  We used our Coast to Coast membership for $13.50 per night.  Since they are an Encore Park, they charge resort fees and taxes on top of the $10 Coast to Coast membership price.  They also charge extra for cable, WiFi and for 50 amp which we do not use any of it.

Our site was fairly flat, gravel with water, 30amp electric and sewer but they do have a weird kind of setup.  If we had neighbors we would be close to one another but luckily we had no neighbors on either side for our entire visit.  The sites are small, no room for setting up a patio with most of them due to the unevenness of the sites.

Our Verizon MiFi and phone service was fair, calls continuously were dropped and the internet was not quick.

Restrooms/shower houses were clean and were updated. 

Laundry facilities were marvelous, located inside the clubhouse where we could watch TV, read in the library, play games or many other choices while we did our laundry.

Everyone who worked there that we encountered were customer oriented, smiled and were very accommodating and had plenty of planned activities.  We have stayed here several times and we will definitely return.

For more photos, check out our Picasa Web Albums.

Blu In RV Park & Café

Blu In RV Park & Café

2189 Highway 78

Borrego Springs, CA  92004

760-561-1370

12/18/2014-4/5/2015

It is always hard to review a park that we work, but we will try to be as impartial as we are able to be.

They charge $45-55 per night, $225-$275 weekly and $475-$625 monthly and they also have a $65 charge for monthly storage.  They do charge for additional people and vehicles.  Many of their sites are very long pull through sites with 30/50 amp electric, water, sewer on gravel.  No cable or WiFi is offered and phone service is very sketchy, especially on the weekends when the desert fills up.  They do have a strict chemical usage in your sewer, so check it out before you arrive.

You are in the middle of the desert so make sure you bring all your supplies, they do have a store for some forgotten essentials but you are 23 miles in either direction away from gas and any sort of store, and 35 to 45 miles from the nearest big grocery.  They have a café that serves breakfast and lunches but usually close before dark.

The park is fairly new so the restrooms, showers and laundry facilities are very modern and for the most part kept clean.  Very hard to keep spotless due to the almost constant wind blowing dust everywhere.  The same goes for the pool and spa.

The owners are nice to work with and they do like their visitors to keep to the rules about off road riding inside the park and quiet time.  They feel if you want to get loud and rowdy then that is what all the boondocking land is around for, not inside the park. 

That being said…the biggest issue we had was the lighting.  They never turn on all the park lights and being on a short timer it is pretty dark all the time.  Others may be alright with this but I like to be able to see outside so we bought our own patio lighting that kept me comfortably lit up at night.

Another issue for us was the weather…hot, dusty and windy most of the time.  We had several wind storms, day and nighttime where we could not see a few feet in front of us and the collection of dust in our home daily was not easy maintaining. 

We would recommend it if you are into off road riding and seclusion, otherwise not much to do in the area.

Sunsets and sunrises are spectacular, check out our photos of our entire stay at our  Google + Web Albums.