Camp Hosting at Fiesta Grande in Casa Grande, Arizona

Before the whole world shut down and into the spring, we were camp hosting at Fiesta Grande RV Resort in Casa Grande, Arizona.  We arrived just before Thanksgiving to share camp hosting duties with two other couples for the winter.  We worked a week and then had two weeks off.  We received a reduced camp site rate and earned money for the hours we worked.  Here are some of our experiences while working and in the area. 

On Wednesday mornings it was Coffee & Donuts time along with announcements.  The donuts were often provided by some local company who would then give their sales pitch during the announcements.  This was a popular event with guests lined up for their free donuts. 

Brenda and the ladies preparing for the donuts give away

The line already forming for the free donuts in the ballroom

The resort held live tribute band concerts once a month in the ballroom.  We enjoyed the BeeGee's and especially the Eagles tribute bands. 

Since Al was rusty from not playing softball for many years, he hit the batting cage on the property.

In January, we had a special visitor.  A long time co-worker and friend, Jimmy, stopped by to visit us on his way from San Francisco to Florida.  It was great to see Jimmy for a short visit and catch up. 

One day we left the park and did a nearby hike up Casa Grand Mountain on the Radio Tower Trail. 

We hiked up to the Radio Tower and then continued on the trail to the American flag.  We got some great views of the surrounding area. 

One of our job responsibilities that we had to do during our week of work was to put the pool cover on one of the two pools in the park and the Jacuzzi.  Then we had to put up the chains around the pool so no one would try to use the pool with the cover on.  This was not a favorite activity.  It wasn't easy to pull that giant sheet of insulation across the pool to the other side. 

And on the weekends we had to roll up the cover before 7 AM.  Apparently some people like to swim so early in the morning!

One night I didn't lock the wheels on one side of the pool cover roller and it went in to the pool in the deep end.  Al ran over and pulled it out while I held the other end from the roller going completely in the pool.  Luckily Al was able to use all his strength and pull it out or the whole thing would have ended up in the pool sitting on the bottom of the deep end! 

After the winter rains stopped, the weeds started to take over the resort.  In previous years they used Round Up to kill them but that is no longer allowed so it was a manual process of killing the weeds.  One day our boss called an "All Hands on Deck" and the staff spent two hours cleaning up weeds in some empty sites.  It only made a small dent but it was a start. 

Al played on softball teams during the 2.5 "seasons" that we were at Fiesta Grande.  Each season lasts about two months.  The .5 was for the last "season" that was cancelled mid-way through when all activities were stopped.

The guys held a End of year softball roast and party with Mike providing his home made brats and sausages and everyone bringing a side dish.  Jim roasted each of the players and gave them funny trophies. 

Al was awarded three silly trophies. 

Here are some pictures around the resort at Fiesta Grande.

Office, ballroom, mail room, and laundry room

Camp Hosts - Dave & Kathy, Nancy & Al, and Mark & Donna

Al, Nancy, Kathy, Joie, Dave, Mike, Donna, and Mark

Our spot on the left and looking towards the main entrance

Activity rooms

Heated pool

Ballroom

All activities cancelled

Mailboxes

Heated pool in daylight

Opposite side of Office/Ballroom building with pool and activity rooms

Looking down one of the streets in the resort

The pull thru sites for nightly guests

Putting green and horseshoe pits

3 Pickleball courts

The La Casa building with a sewing, computer, cards, and laundry rooms

Second pool next to La Casa

The sign we moved from site to site to
 notify guests which couple was on duty

We went for another hike on Casa Grande Mountain.  From this trailhead it was more difficult to follow the trail so we just hiked around keeping an eye on our route to find our way back to the truck.

Then we took a drive to downtown Casa Grande where we found some murals.

and a Neon Sign park.  It was a pretty small park and I'm sure it looks more interesting at night when the signs are lit. 

Al kept at the weeds in the park for many, many days.

In the evenings we would walk on the streets of the resort and saw some beautiful blooming cacti in people's yards.

This next one is my absolute favorite flowering cactus.  The blooms seemed to last for a day but it sprouted more blossoms every few days or weeks.

Here the blossoms are dying off

Here it is blooming on a different day

Kathy and Dave

We had some amazing sunsets

A nice sign someone made and posted on the door to the kitchen

Our last hike in the area was to Picacho State Park about 30 minutes south of Casa Grande.  The park was open for hiking but everything else was closed.  We paid our $7 entrance fee and checked it out.

I learned it's pronounced "Pee Ka Cho" and not "Peak a chu". 

This cactus left a nice shadow reminder of
who is in charge during this crazy pandemic

Which way does the trail go?

Then we did the Calloway Trail

Kathy and Dave left on March 20th and Mark and Donna left in early April.  That left us as the last hosts standing.  We are waiting for some warranty parts to arrive for our trailer plus some other stuff going on that I'll write about in a coming blog so we remained at Fiesta Grande where we sheltered in place. 

Nice full moon

Al was still weeding in the park

One day I made some face masks. 

Interesting clouds

The sign on this golf card reads:
Here's a hug.  We'll get through this.

Another task we had during our week of work was to close and lock up two gates to the park at 7 PM.  On the weekends Al got up and opened them by 7 AM.  Where is everyone going so early? 

Back gate

View of Casa Grande Mountain from the back gate

Side gate

Since all the activities were cancelled, Brenda, the activities director came up with socially distant themes for each day.  One was to post butterflies around the park so people could look for them on their walks.

A little treat in the kitchen provided by Kim and her daughter

Here is the inside of the office where I worked and after Donna did some decorating and moving of furniture.

Mail room from the inside

After Brenda created a daily schedule of socially distanced themes for each day, Jim would draw with chalk on his driveway.  He's a very creative guy and it was a highlight of our evening walks to see what Jim produced each day to match the theme. 

Jim and his wife, Penny, also created this mannequin and changed her signs on occasion. 

Jim at work creating a new drawing

Bye-Bye, I'll be leaving on May 1st. 
I met a nice man. 
We're going to New York..

Here are the ladies I worked with in the office during my "on weeks".

Kim, Jenn, Judy, Brenda, and Nancy

Nancy and Karen

One day we had to get out so we took a drive down to Tucson to visit some friends, John & Sandy, from California who bought this house for their son to live in while at the University of Arizona.  He's graduating this year so now they are moving in.

I now know what a dog feels like to be excited about going for a ride.  After sheltering in place for so long in the trailer I was so looking forward to getting out and seeing some scenery. 

John & Sandy's house

They are having a pool and Jacuzzi installed in the back yard.

Their son, Kenny, took us for a trip up to cooler temperatures at Mt. Lemmon. 

John, Sandy, and Kenny

Another thing I did to pass the time was join a Bible study with my Anaheim, California church, Eastside Church.  The church closed to onsite services and went all online for their 5 campuses.  The Small Groups also went online so I was able to join one led by Greg.   We meet on Zoom on Sunday evenings. 

I've also been having weekly virtual lunches with my girlfriends from Experian.  It's great to be able to connect with them each week. 

Jackie, Ly, Carlene, and Susan

Another beautiful Arizona sunset.

It sure has been getting hot in Casa Grande!

Our commitment at Fiesta Grande was up on April 15th but we were continuing to "sheltering in place" since many campgrounds were closed to new arrivals.  We needed to keep our sanity so we went to work at a sister park, Casita Verde, about 6 miles away.  This park is much smaller then Fiesta Grande.  I worked in the office and Al did some light maintenance and killed weeds. We worked there Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays to break up the weeks and worked there for three weeks. 

All the activities at Casita Verde were closed so I helped the park manager, Missy, with some office projects.

The office at Casita Verde

Missy and Nancy

The pools are still closed so Al made his own "socially distanced pool"

Al started a mini garden in a Lowe's bucket.  He's growing a tomato, basil, and jalapeno plants.

Al washing the roof of the trailer and the solar panels

It started getting REALLY hot (over 100 degrees) and it was too hot for Al to be working outside at Casita Verde and we were SOOooo ready to hit the road so we finally left Casa Grande on May 7th. 

We had a nice time at Fiesta Grande and Casita Verde in Casa Grande, Arizona.  We met some great people and got to do some fun activities and made a little money.  This pandemic really put a damper on things starting in March so we'll see what the summer brings for us.  We have some changes coming so hopefully all goes well with those now very fluid plans.  More details to come.......