The First Chapter...Oct. 2009

The First Chapter

So…. We head to our next job. (Near the Badlands in South Dakota) The few hours we had spent at the truck stop didn’t seem long enough to feel rested and the roads were very snowy and the wind was blowing like crazy but considering we had already turned this job down once and really had no other options we knew we couldn’t call and try to get a different day to arrive. So slow but sure we headed for the Badlands.

By the time we got there our truck and camper were covered in snow and all the yuck from the roads. I can only imagine what we must of looked like pulling in there with all of them watching us…A family of 4, pulling a 25ft Cub Thor Hybrid camper…Snow and dirt all over it, showing up for our second chance at this and trying to pull it all together in a matter of a few hours to look and act professional enough after just having the biggest nightmare of our life just finish (resort in Custer, SD)

As soon as we get parked and walk in the door the owner is standing there, we introduce ourselves and he says “Is that what you are planning to stay and sleep in?” as he points out towards our dirt and snow covered camper. We quietly and slightly embarrassed say “Yes”. Immediately they start making arrangements for us to stay in one of the cabins on the property. We start moving our stuff from the camper to the cabin and getting all set up as the next day was when we were going to start working for them. The cabin was georgeous.



MASTER BEDROOM



BATHROOM



LIVINGROOM AREA



ENTRANCE TO KITCHEN
AND LIVINGROOM



It was a 2 room cabin. There was a kitchen, livingroom area with a hide-a-bed, bathroom, and a bedroom with 2 queen beds. We ended up staying in this cabin the whole time we were there.

The next morning we started at 8am and had no idea what was in store for us. We started by laying down the weed guard sheets and then shoveling rock by hand. I couldn’t help but think “I hope this is not all workcamping jobs.” It was harder work than I had done in a long time. After the landscaping was complete, we then started staining cabins by hand…33 of them. The money was good we made $100.00 per cabin that we stained, but by the end of the day we were sore and exhausted.

As the Cabin staining was coming to the end the owner had asked us if we would be interested in going to open up and manage a property he had in Wyoming. (Fireworks Store) Knowing that it had to be easier than what we were doing, we gladly accepted. It was about 15-20 minutes outside of a big city and came with housing (3 bedroom trailer house).

 So once again we packed up our belongings in a U-Haul trailer and left our camper at the property in South Dakota and headed for Wyoming. Once we arrived in Wyoming there were 2 guys waiting there to help us unload the U-Haul and then to take inventory in the store and help get it ready and cleaned.

 As we started moving stuff into the house I had noticed these “Black Specks” on the kitchen counter, thinking to myself that the cleaning team that was hired to clean the house before we got there must have obviously done a poor job and I would have to Re-clean, we continued to move stuff in.

The next morning as I am getting ready and digging through boxes on the kitchen counter trying to find stuff I notice these “Black Specks” are moving somewhat,They are everywhere…on the counters, in the cabinets, on the stovetop…EVERYWHERE  totally freaked out I call our boss and explain to him what I have found. He allows me to call an exterminator and for us to stay at the Hampton Inn until this is taken care of.

The bug guy came out fairly quickly and treated the house..assuring me that I may see more movement from our “Black Specks” but they should start to die off after 24 hours…NOT THE CASE! 3 more times the bug guy is out, and we have been off and on at the Hampton in town after working 7am to 10pm, then having to drive almost 20 minutes to get to the hotel and to get something to eat.

After finally looking deeper into the situation, the bug guy informs us that these “Black Specs” are actually the owners of the trailer house…the inside of the walls were infested with them and it would take tearing down walls and such to eliminate them. Well needless to say we were not going to continue to room with them, so back to the Hampton AGAIN that night and the next day Jim and Collin drove to South Dakota to go pick up our camper.

Cassie and I stayed and ran the store for the day. It was a long day for Jim and Collin because they drove all the way to South Dakota, picked up the camper, and then turned right back around and headed back for Wyoming. About 10 hours + of driving. Very excited to see them and to have a clean bug free place to stay we waited for them till that night.

Getting everything that had been in the house cleaned and sanitized and moved back into the camper was quite a process, but very well worth it in the end. So for the next few weeks we ran the store and endlessly stocked the shelves to get ready for the 4th of July. We hired 3 extra people to help out over the forth of July, I had never noticed before just how popular fireworks were.

The owner was hoping that the store would make at least $200,000 for that year. The store made that and then some in the 7 weeks we were there, he was excited as were we, our cut was 15%. So we nested about $30,000 for that job.

As we were going through the 4th of July time there the owner had called and told us there was some major issues with the manager couple he had in place at the cabin resort in South Dakota, and that he had a couple that could take over the Wyoming location and asked if we would consider coming back to South Dakota and managing the resort….We accepted, so once again packed up and were back off to South Dakota.

 When we arrived there it was instant learning…learning….learning. We needed to learn the reservations system, the ordering of supplies, the digital soap system for the washers, the nightly reports, the pricing of stuff in the store…..the list was endless. We had an apartment that was above the store, it was designed like the cabins and very nice. Everything was provided, furniture, flat screen .TV’s, dishwasher, deck, grill. You name it we were very comfortable. Not to mention that all utilities were paid, plus we had a decent wage. FINALLY…things were starting to look up.

Everything was pretty easy to learn for us since Jim and I had both been in management before, and from when Jim owned his own Motel. The cabin rentals were similar to the motel lifestyle and so was the job description ( Cleaning chemical orders, laundry, maintenance, room checks after cleaning was done by the housekeepers, and so on). Well after getting settled in and comfortable with our job…reality seemed to set in.

We had to open the office at 7 am, as we offered a continental breakfast to our guests, and responsible for the clean up afterwards, along with checking guests out from the night before, ringing up purchases from the gift shop, ringing up purchases from the separate jewelry counter, answering the phone, PLUS…getting started on home schooling, and that was just the start of the day. We had to keep the office open until 10 PM at night, or later if we had late reservations coming in, plus answer the phone and the night bell throughout the night. REMEMBER….It was just the two of us. (Jim and I)

We did this for 3 1/2 months, 16 hrs a day +, 7 days a week. The owner for some crazy reason felt we both needed to be there at all times, even though we had an assistant manager there that was more than capable of running the place while we were gone for a few hours….but we continued to be prisoners of the job and there always!

 

Every time we would try to mention some time off to our boss he would say ” well, once you get through the rest of this time, you get 5 months off. Most people would love to only work 7 months a year” Now this being true…7 months a year to only have to work with a guaranteed job when you came back from your time off is very rare, but another rare thing is having the time to watch your kids grow up and spend time with them, have dinner together, and go out and have fun…we were not doing any of this.

 There were times, even when I would think really hard about it that I cannot remember what the kids did to entertain themselves outside of the home schooling homework. We never had time to do anything, and by the time it was time to lock up the office at night, we were totally exhausted, and had to be up a few short hours later.

 Finally after a long thought process about the pros and cons of the job we decided that when the season was over we would not be returning. We would keep our stuff in storage and continue our winter plans to go to Texas. So our boss was told we would not be returning, the camper was packed, and we were ready for some much needed relaxation and time together. So back on the road to Texas.

~Gourmet Gypsy A.K.A. Tanya