Merry Christmas to All and a Happy New Year

Just thought I'd add my 2 cents worth out here before the end of the year. It's been a crazy year and we've had a great time going with the flow. Right now, if you don't know already, I'm a kept man and Pammy is working herself to death... Actually she's having a great time but putting in a lot of hours. We are at Desert Gardens RV Oasis in Florence Az and would welcome anyone who wants to come by and visit. The sites rent for $30 a night and are large sites. Or come by and stay the day and visit. Lots of people here but they aren't our friends yet. Have made a few new friends but generally the "cliques" stick together and we are just the worker bees... Mostly nice folks here with your normal few exceptions, but that's to be expected...

Anyway, just wanted to say Merry Christmas and wish everyone a great New Year... so far we have had one job offer for the summer but turned it down and are still planning on being in Seattle for the a good part of the summer...

See you soon

Slight change of plans for us

We have accepted positions at http://desertgardensrvoasis.com/index.html for the winter as Activities Director (Pam) and Jack-of-all-trades (Rick). We will leave the Pahrump/Las Vegas area on Wednesday, Nov 19 and arriving at Florence, AZ on the 20th or 21st and are scheduled to stay until April.

We haven't made any changes to our reservations yet, especially those for December and January as we've had changes before that we needed to have a site right away and want to make sure that since those are the busiest months, we have a place to go if we need it!!!

We'll be working 12 hours each for our site, then Pam will work another 28 for a total of 40 hrs per week, and we'll get that flat screen tv sooner or later!!! This just helps out with the shortage that we have for the winter's purchases since we didn't get the seaon-end bonus as was origianlly promised from the place in Alaska.

That's all for now, more to follow as we get to our new position/place and see what it's like!!!

We're Working on our new Web Site!!

One of our sons has created an awesome new utility for creating your own websites and we are in the process of updating ours to the new format!! Go take a look at it, it is still in progress but the Itinerary page is up-to-date FINALLY!!! We're having problems making reservations, but are slowly getting some of them made.

Hope your Presidential candidate won, ours did!!!

Well, we're not going to Texax afterall!

We got an email from the resort we were going to in Port Aranas Tx and they hired another couple!!! We thought we had a solid commitment, that's what we get for thinking I guess!!!

Sooooo, we'll take a look at everyone's travel plans and see where we can meet up with all our friends and family over the winter. We're not going to commit to anywhere until just the right job comes along or next summer, whichever comes first!

So look for us at the favorite hangouts!

Dang only the 3rd day of a new month and....

Here I am posting again... I guess when things change at a rapid pace, we must inform more often. At any rate if you haven't recieved email to the effect from Pammy, you can hear it here... We have accepted a position in Port Aransas, Texas. Right out on the island at the Gulf Waters RV Resort. The web site shows a pretty nice place, some are owned by RV'ers and others are for rent. Pam will be working in the office doing the normal stuff taking reservations, checking people in and such and I will be escorting to the site and doing light gardening and security. This is another 4 days on 4 days off situation and that works for us. It's even for pay! The Resort is realitively new and growing (another 40 sites are going in) with 125 sites so far. At any rate we are supposed to be there for a year and then we will see from there. Should be interesting.
So, we will be leaving Seattle on the 10th unless the doctor changes our plans. Should be in Pahrump around the 16th and will stay there for as long as we can and still make it to Texas by the 4th or 5th of Nov. For those of you who are going to meet us in Pahrump, see then.

Work Kamping has it's ups and downs

Hi Everyone;

As you can see this is the 3rd post in one month, I must have alot to say this month.

We are in Tok and getting ready to head into Canada, so no cell service and internet may be spotty for the next couple of weeks. This post is more about what just happened to us than anything else however.

We just got disappointed by our summer employer to the tune of over $3000. He came up with some bogus excuse not to pay us our "agreed" upon end of season bonus. We could not believe what he did! We bail him out at the beginning of the summer and do better than he expected all summer long and then he won't pay us our bonus. Lots of words have flown over the past several hours and several emails have gone out. I don't know what to say, as workampers you really have no recourse in a situation like this. This is the "down" of being a workamper. That an employer would cheat people out of their money is unbelieveable to me. Maybe I'm too trusting or just stupid. At any rate, we worked hard for him and got nothing for it. Let this be a lesson to everyone, GET IT IN WRITTING!! People can not be trusted anymore.

The more I know people the more I like my cats!

We will barely make it back to the lower 48 and won't be able to do any of the planned side trips now, so we will probably be back in Seattle sooner than planned. See you all soon...

Twice in one Month, Amazing

Hi All;
Once again, thinks have changed. Like I said we were being talked to by one of the WH resorts and have decided to join their "volunteer" staff for the winter. We will still be leaving tomorrow and heading down to the lower 48. We don't have to be there until the 1st of Nov. so we will probably not "rush" through any of the stops.
We will be staying in St. David for the winter and hope that we get to see everyone while we are there. I would rather be moving around and seeing folks but this is not a bad deal since some of the kids are in Tucson and we both like the St. David area. So, if we don't see you along the way down, let's hope we get to see you while you are staying at St. David.
As of tomorrow we will have spotty internet service and no cell service so if you don't get a response right away, don't fret, we are having a blast in Canada. See you all soon.

So Sept. brings changes

Hi All;

As usual, nothing in our lives is written in stone, thank goodness. We have changed the date that we will leave Healy, Ak to the 22nd of Sept. That allows for all the housekeeping staff to get out of here ahead of us. We will be going from here to Fairbanks and Tok then over to Watson Lake, YT. Then it's down a different route than the one we took up, we are going to take the Cassiair Highway down to Prince Geoge. We wanted to go on the ferry and take the inside passage down but the cost was WAY TOO MUCH. It would have cost over $5k to do that, we can travel down the highway for half that. It's really too bad too as we thought that would be a great treat to finish off this wonderful trip. Oh well, life goes on and maybe another time.

At any rate we are going to be in Seattle for about 2 weeks and then it's heading south for warmer climates and less rain. As of this entry we are going to stop in Portland and visit with the kids for a few days, then we are going to stop over in Coos Bay and visit with that set of kids. I also need to make a run to Kerbyville and get some burl pieces to work on. Then it's off the Pahrump, Nv for a few weeks. We have been contacted by a Western Horizons park that is looking for assitant activities people and if they decide to have us do that we may have to cut some of our stays a little shorter since we may need to be at the park sooner than we had thought. For now no plans to "hightail it" to anywhere.

So now the news from the Denali Park Hotel. We still don't know if they are going to ask us back but I have pretty much decided that I don't want to come back to Healy. (Notice that I say "I" for the first time in this entry, Pam is still thinking about it and we all know what that means) We would both like to come back to Alaska and if we do I think that we would probably try to get a position somewhere down on the Kenai Penn. We really liked it there when we visited and would like to spend some more time there. At any rate, we shall see. It's been alot of fun here and we have enjoyed the things that we have gotten to do. I will share a picture or two with you but most of you have our "Flickr" address and there are more there

.

The first image is a "clear" view of Denali (Mt. McKinley), that day I got several shots of the mountain including from the "south", this is a shot from the North side of the moutain. The second shot is from our Glacier cruise of one of the glaciers (Surprise Glacier) calving. It was very cool (no pun intended) and the sound was very loud. Hope you enjoy. For those folks who are missing some of the pictures that we are taking, I'm going to put a package together with them and send it out to everyone. If you get to see us in person, I have some fantastic shots to show and would be happy to share them.

So this is my entry for now. I will try to get another one up before we leave so that we can keep everyone up to speed with our continuing saga and journey through life. Let us know what you think and hope to see everyone soon....

At least once a month isn't that bad...

Hi All;

Once again I find myself apologing for my tardiness in posting here. It just seems that our time moves so fast and the next thing we know we are into the next month. For those of you who are interested, I have a "tendative" plan of travel set up with emphasis on the "tendative" part.

• 21-Sep Lv. Healy, Ak; Arrv. Delta Junction
  22-Sep Lv. Delta Junction; Arrv. Destruction Bay, Yk
  23-Sep Lv. Destruction Bay; Arrv. Whitehorse, Yk
  24-Sep Lv. Whitehorse, Yk; Arrv. Jade City, Yk
  25-Sep Lv. Jade City, Yk; Arrv. Mezaidin Lake
  27-Sep Lv. Mezaidin Lake; Arrv. Kitwanga
  28-Sep Lv. Kitwanga; Arrv. Prince George
  29-Sep Lv. Prince George; Arrv. Cache Creek
  30-Sep Lv. Cache Creek; Arrv. Fall City, Wa
  19-Oct Lv. Fall City; Arrv. Portland
  22-Oct Lv. Portland; Arrv. Rogue River
  23-Oct Lv. Rogue River; Arrv. Fernley
  24-Oct Lv. Fernley; Arrv. Pahrump


• The rest of this is TBD
  From Pahrump to Ehrenberg
  From Ehrenberg to Winterhaven
  From Winterhaven to Indio
  From Indio to Casa Grande
  From Casa Grande to St. David
  From St. David to Las Cruces
  From Las Cruces to Sierra Blanca
  From Sierra Blanca to Boerne
  From Boerne to Rockport
  From Rockport to Abita Springs
  From Abita Springs to Robertsdale
  From Robertsdale to Huntsville

From here on, and actually from Pahrump on is still up in the air and subject to change at any given time. Alot depends on whether we are going to work in Alaska next summer or not. I'm inclined to believe that we will probably not come back up here, which is sad in a way but not so bad, since I can check Alaska off my "bucket list". We both would like to come back and see a bit more of the state and do a few more things but we will see what happens. For now we are not planning on coming back up here.

I did want to add a picture for your enjoyment, this is a Least Weasel, and a neighbor of ours. He/She lives under one of the buildings near our rig. The Least Weasel is the smallest carnivor in NorthAmerica and very ferocious. We just think of him/her as cute. They are only 10 inches long and eat the Snowshoe Hares that are all around us.

Been Awhile, Sorry...

Sorry to say we are remise in posting... It's been a busy time here in Alaska. I will say that we are having fun but it's been very busy. Pam is working on putting a large amount of pictures up on a site called "Flickr". When she has the site setup and the pictures added she will let everyone know. I got a new camera for my birthday and I'm having a great time taking pictures with it. I got a Nikon D80 since my old 35mm was a Nikon and I like their products. Besides, I only had to buy the body because I already had lenses that would work with it. At any rate both Pam and I have been taking lots of pictures and we want to share them with you so she is fixing the "Flickr" site for you to view them.
Time to talk about this winter... Pam and I have decided that we will be heading south for the winter. We may be coming back up here to work at the hotel again next summer, that is to be determined. The owners are discussing that possibility. However, we got to figuring it out and it would cost us just as much to stay here for the winter as it would to go south and come back up, since we would really like to be warmer than 25 to -40 this winter we have decided to go south. So, we will be leaving here around the 18th of Sept. and heading down. I have a Dr.'s appointment on the 15th of Oct. (that may change) and then we are free as a bird (at least so far) from that point on. We are considering working this winter if we are going to come back up here for the summer, if not returning to Alaska=no winter work. If we aren't going to return, and we would like to so that we can see even more, we will probably hang around the southwest for a few months and then start heading east. It's getting to be time for us to try the east coast for awhile.
At any rate, still lots of things to decide before definite plans are made. The only planning I'm doing right now is when I'm going Halibut/Lingcod fishing in August and which direction we will go when we leave here in Sept.. It's a matter of whether we go down to Anchorage and then head out of Alaska from there (different route to Tok is all) or whether we just go to Fairbanks and do the same route we did when we came to Alaska. Some of the decision will be determined by the weather. We are looking forward to seeing everyone and hope that we get to meet up with all our friends when we get back to the lower 48. I promise to keep you up to date as to what is going on as it happens or at least within a few days of it happening.

Animals and Sunsets

We've had all sorts of visitors (animal-wise) and enjoy seeing them all. Here are some of our animal friends.


Mamma Moose and calf Red Cap Finch at the bird feeder

Black Cap Finch above Red Squirrel Bird - at least he thinks he is....

Baby Snowshoe hare in one of the rooms Snowshoe Hares are all over the place!!


A mother moose and her twins came to visit one day and Rick grabbed the camera!

and last but not least, a GORGEOUS sunset (about 12:20 a.m.)

Behind the trailers Mount Healy in the sunset glow


firey ski, about 1 a.m.

Our Days at Denali Park Hotel

It's hard to believe that June is almost gone!!! We've been working hard, but playing at the same time. Here's some pictures of the crew that we work with relaxing and enjoying the season.

The pictures below are taken at a campfire with all of us, including the Golden Retriever - Chewy. Some of the girls had never been to a campfire and never had S'mores, so we all had alot of fun!!

By the way, these pictures were taken from 11:00 p.m. to about 1:00 a.m.

Rick chatting with friends in WA state. L to R - Rick, Lyazzat, Eva, Mariela, Mariya, Rob, Simona, Alina, Jo, Don, and of course, Chewy

Rick and Lyazzat- she's from Kasastan Lyazzat, Eva, Mariela, Mariya, Rob, and Simona

Alina, first time for S'mores! Eva, Mariya, and Rob

Simona, Alina, Jo and Don Lyazzat, Eva, Mariya, Rob, and Simona

This is a movie of some of our fun, enjoy!!!

Lyazzat and Alina are from Kasastan. Eva, Mariela, Mariya, and Simona are from Bulgaria, and Rob is from Colorado. Jo is from New Mexico, Don is from Florida, and then there is us....

Below, inside the office having a staff lunch of Salmon!! (these pictures are daytime, unlike the ones above that were nighttime.....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE OLD FART!!!

Today is Rick's 60th birthday so sing him "Happy Birthday" loud enough for him to hear up here in the wilds of Alaska.

We took 4 days off from work and went to visit the Kenai peninsula below Anchorage.
We saw LOTS of gorgeous scenery!!!!


Views from our hotel in Homer



Homer Spit (Below)




Saw lots of COMBAT Fishing on the Russian and Kenai Rivers.... Combat fishing?? Wall to wall fisherpersons!

Saw some nice King Salmon caught!


The welcome bunny at the hotel and a Red Squirrel that doesn't think he's a bird.


Bird Sancutary near Anchorage with lots of nesting gulls and terns.

Bottom Right - Bald Eagle in Homer

This eagle (below) landed in a yard in Homer as we drove by. Then took off with a Halibut carcass the homeowner had put out for it.

More scenery from Homer and one of the trains that are full of tourist (this one was near Anchorage.)

More of the bird Sanctuary L - Artic Tern hovering R - Some type of loon

Seagulls that weren't afraid of anyone!!! Again at the bird sanctuary.

This robin was singing a great song at the hotel in Homer, and the eagle (r) flew by below the hotel as we were sitting outside.

View of the Homer Spit, it juts out 4 miles into the bay (L) Magpie (R)