Arriving at Casa Grande, Arizona

After our trailer was all fixed up in Ft. Stockton, Texas, we made our way to Andy's house in La Mesa, New Mexico.  Andy is part of the Boondocker's Welcome program and we met him a year ago when we parked on his property.  This night he was hosting two campers in his driveway.

We spent some time in Andy's house catching up with him and sharing camping stories.  A lot had changed in his life in the year since we saw him last. 

Al, Andy, and Nancy

Leaving Andy's place, we planned to stop and see another friend in Tucson, Arizona but his mother was in the hospital so we made the long drive all the way to Casa Grande, Arizona where we'll hang for the winter.

A couple we met in Quartzsite last January told us about an opening at an RV resort where they were working.  They said it's really easy work.  You work one week and then get two weeks off.  There are three couples camp hosting and rotate each week.  Since we planned to be in Arizona anyway for Baseball Spring Training we decided to give it a try.  We're paid and we got a discounted rate for our site.

Here we are set up in our site between the other two couples we are camp hosting with.

We arrived just in time to have Thanksgiving with some of our RV friends.

Al, Brenda, Cathy, Mark, Dave, Kathy, Mike, and Joie

Pictionary Challenge - Girls vs. Guys

The first weeks we had required online training classes to complete then on the job training before it was time for our shift week.

I work in the office a few hours in the morning preparing packets for incoming campers, answer the phone, and try to help guests who visit the office.  I also sell tickets for the Friday night dance.  

Al shows new arrivals to their sites and reads the electric meters.  He also had to lock up two entrance gates at 7PM each evening so that only the main entrance was open overnight.   

Both of us unlock all the facility buildings on the weekend mornings and lock all the doors and set the office alarm at 10 PM. 

Another "job" for Al was he was recruited for the park softball team.  The games were played at another resort (Palm Creek) where they had a beautiful field.

Al at bat

 

Being that most of the guys playing softball are pretty old, they had some interesting rules.  For instance, each batter starts off their at bat with one ball and one strike.  Another is to score a run the guys had to run to an area away from home plate to avoid any collisions and injuries.  There was a safety screen in front of the pitcher to protect them from getting hit.

Al hadn't played softball in many, many years so he practiced his hitting at the small batting/golf cage at our park.  

 

After some practice, Al found his swing and was hitting pretty good.

Some of the guys were pretty old but could still hit.  Getting to first base was sometimes a challenge so Al was called in as a substitute runner often. 

Al scoring a run

2019 Fiesta Grande Amigo's

On one of our non-working weeks we went to California to visit family.  We got to the 91 freeway and thought, UGH....., back to LA area traffic.  Suddenly our truck felt so big and the lanes of traffic so small!

We went out and found some nicely decorated Christmas trees.

We spent some time celebrating the holiday with close friends!

Ly & Ken, Susan & Mike, Carlene, Jackie, Sarah & Dan, and Al

Another day we went to watch the twins perform some Christmas carols with their after school class. 

 Then it was off for a dinner of pancakes with sprinkles!  "Seriously?"

Some nights we played cards with Carmen and Roberto. 

or Roberto tried to teach us how to play pool.

And we got to attend a Christmas service at our home church.

 

Carmen, Roberto, and Al

Carmen & Al

After a brief visit to California, it was back to Casa Grand, Arizona and back to work.

On one of our next weeks off we volunteered at the 2020 Waste Management Phoenix Open.  More on that in the next entry.