Since We've Arrived

Well, I know I haven’t been really on top of this journal since we arrived here, at Canyon Country Campground, on Friday the 13th of May, 2011, but I’m going to try to remedy that.  To bring you up to date with things, here’s a short recap of how it’s gone. 

We took off on Friday morning, from Carol’s mom’s house at about 6am.  The camper and the van were fully loaded, and ready to go.  This wasn’t the first time I’d driven the van with the camper attached, but it would be the first time I’d driven it more than ten miles.  I was a bit worried, but more eager than anything.  We stopped shortly, along the way, for breakfast.  We LOVE the food and the coffee at The BlueBird 2 in Tunkhannock, so that’s where we stopped. 

The ride was pretty smooth.  I had one incident with stopping too quickly, where the camper felt like it was going to jump hitch and crash into the back of the van, but other than that one time, the journey was easy.  We stopped once for gas along the way, and one other time to stretch our legs. 
   
We arrived at Canyon Country Campground in decent time.  We met the owners, Jim and Lindy, and their most beloved and absolutely gorgeous dog, Zoe.  Jim took us up to our spot and helped me back her in, which was definitely a problem for me at first.  I couldn’t grip my head around the whole turning the wheel OPPOSITE of the way you want the camper to go.  I finally caught on, thanks to Jim, and we were in.  Jim told us to take our time and set up before coming down for our job briefings.  The site is nearly perfect.  Not the most level of sites, which is a pain for my hammock and our screen tent, but it’s so gorgeous up top here, that we can easily overlook the slight pitch. 

After setting up, we went down to the office and had a brief meeting with Jim and Lindy.  Basically, it was a “get to know each other” kind of thing.  They familiarized us with what we’d be doing, and then told us we didn’t even have to start today.  COOL!!!  After that ride, I didn’t really need to start working.  ? 
   
We checked out the campground, and lounged around our own site.  We’re in the seasonal section, and one of our neighbors, Doc and his wife Judy, had already arrived.  They invited us over to their campfire for drinks on night one.  Very nice couple and very helpful.  They knew we didn’t have a tent for our picnic table yet, so they told us to take theirs, since they were leaving in two days, and wouldn’t be back for three weeks.  We took it over, but it wasn’t good for us.  We didn’t like the location, so wound up putting our table in the woods, behind the camper.  We’ll get a smaller cover for it soon. 
   
FINALLY got to sleep in our enormous, wall-to-wall bed.  I must tell you, it was FABULOUS!!!  Loved every minute of it.  Probably the best night sleep EVER.  ?  Got us ready for the next day, which started with breakfast and coffee, and off to our first day “on the job” at Canyon Country Campground. 
   
Our work week is Thursday through Monday, from 10am to 2pm.  Not bad, eh?  We’ve got time to enjoy our mornings before the day of work begins.  I hate to even call it work.  It’s more like chores.  The day flies by.  We usually start with the cleaning of the office, porch and laundry room.  From there, we hit the outgoing cabins and campsites.  This is one of the most immaculate campgrounds I’ve ever been to.  Jim and Lindy have very tough standards on how clean their sites and cabins have to be.  When we’re done with a cabin, you won’t find a spider web, or a fleck of dust anywhere.  I’ve taken great joy in my role of spider eradicator.  LOL  I’m mostly a wuss, and just attack them with my broom, but on one occasion, I really manned up and grabbed a HUGE spider, from the ladies room, by one of the legs, and threw it outside.  I have no idea how I momentarily conquered my arachnophobia for that, but somehow I did it.  Okay… so Carol had doused it with some chemicals, and it was quite lethargic, AND I was wearing gloves… but still… impressive.  LOL  After the campsites are done, we do the bathrooms, which are also immaculate.  Nicest bathhouses I’ve EVER seen in a private campground.  After that, we hop in the truck and collect the garbage from the sites.  That’s the basic day.  Sometimes we paint things, or clear fallen trees from the surrounding woods, but those are the basics of our duties.

So, not too bad a deal, huh?  We really love the place, and for the first time in my life, I can say, without a doubt, that I LOVE MY JOB!!!  It seriously can't be beat.  There's been some tough days, but for the most part, it's cake.  The campers are, for the most part, all very nice and appreciative of what we do. 

After work, we usually take a break to have lunch, and relax.  Sometimes a nice siesta is in order.  When the wind has those trees rustling, it's a natural sleeping pill.  So we sit in our zero gravity chairs and pass out for a bit.  After waking, we take care of some of our normal chores around our site, and maybe take a hike or hang out with some neighbor campers.  It's a sweet life folks.  We're loving it.  :)  

        Our site.  We feel quite envious, sitting next to that gigantic fifth wheel next door.  :)  S'okay though, we'll upgrade soon.  :)

     A look at some of the beautiful cabins available to rent,  at our campground.

One of the prominent images you see upon entering our campground, is our Flag.  The owners here, are quite patriotic, which we LOVE.  You should see this at night.  Very gorgeous.  I'll get a shot soon.  :)

As you walk out of the campground circle, you see the game room and the general store/office.  Sometimes, I get to zip around the campground in that super awesome Gator you see.  LOVE IT!!!  :)

This beautiful lady is Zoe.  I'm the furthest thing there is from being a "dog person", but this girl has stolen my heart.  She's the absolutely BEST dog I've ever met.  She loves us too, especially Carol.  <3  

Okay folks, that's a small tour of the campground and what's been going on.  I'm still not completely caught up here, so there's a lot more to come.  We took a few beautiful hikes that I want to share with you.  Hope you like waterfall pics, cuz I got a LOT of them coming.  :)  See ya' soon.  :)