Monday - We went in to meet with our supervisor, thinking we were to get the workamper orientation presentation from the activities director. She was not in, so Leanne had us finish filling out paperwork and told us she would send us the work schedule for our days that week by email. "Report to work on Thursday morning" were our instructions, so we went home to do other things. Just before noon, I went to the Functional Fitness class. The park personal fitness trainer lead the class, it was a good one for toning and balance. That afternoon we went to the pool. The air temperature was still cooler, but with the heated pools and getting out of the wind, we were able to enjoy sitting in the sun.
This park has 1100 sites, about 80% of them are park models (small manufactured homes for seasonal living) owned privately or by the park. The other 25% are RV/Fifth Wheel/Trailer sites. They told us that over 75% of the snowbirds here are from Canada. The others are mostly from the upper Midwest, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and about 40 couples from South Dakota. Because of all the people, the park has an incredible amount of classes and activities for everyone to participate in. Exercise classes (and a well appointed fitness room), over 10 different card games, bunco, dominos, quilting, bands and choruses, groups for biking, hiking, pool, bocce ball, golf, horseshoes, pickle ball, ping pong, tennis, softball and shuffleboard, health classes, and dances one or two times a week. You could be involved constantly about 12 hours a day if you wanted to. And then there is all the socializing each afternoon, either at the clubhouse or in the neighborhoods. Each snowbird park in the area also has a huge Bingo night, some people go from park to park and play every night. So if you have ever wondered what snowbirds do all winter in Arizona, they do a lot! Probably more than they do at their homes the rest of the year.
Tuesday - We had breakfast and headed to Tucson and the Junction. Wally and Jan (W&J - our friends at the Junction) had called the night before and told us the mobile home we really liked at the park was for sale - again! We had looked at it last year and others in the park, just to know what they were like. This was the particular lot and floorplan layout we liked the best, recognizing it needed some work and updating. It was still for sale when we arrived in November, but was sold to a gentleman in December.
They called because he was selling it and at a price too good to dismiss, so we decided we should take another look. He showed us around and we saw the improvement work he had done on it since he purchased it in December.
We had lunch and talked it over and agreed we really liked it and it would allow us to have a little more room in the winter months to live and have room for visitors to stay with us. We made arrangements to buy it with the seller and headed back home to Mesa. Our heads were spinning, thinking about the whole deal and what we would update to make it a home for us. A new challenge!
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| Our new desert Casa |
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| Nice deck for sunset viewing |
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| Our Catalina Mountains view |
Thursday - Our first day of work at the park. We began at 7:30 AM and were trained on how to properly clean the shuffleboard courts. The leader of the shuffleboard group was there to train us. Dust mop the lanes, sweep the walkways between the lanes, vacuum up the swept dirt piles, then damp mop each lane twice. It's all about the sliding of the discs and they play competitively.
Next we removed chairs from the ballrooom floor, to allow the line dancing classes to be there. Then there were several other rooms to set up for cards, EMS blood pressure checks, musician jam sessions, etc. The table and chairs duties began. The day went quickly and we slept well that night.
Friday - Shuffleboard cleaning again and then new room setups for the day. It was a little cool at 7:30 in the morning, but we warmed up quickly pushing the brooms and mops around. That afternoon we learned how to do what would be our big weekly setup; Friday night bingo. Tables are set across the entire ballroom to seat almost 500 players, using a marked pole to show how far from the stage the table ends should be, how far apart each table row should be and another mark for the aisle spaces. Then six chairs to every table. They do have setup diagrams for us to look at as we learn, so that helped.
On our Thursday, Friday and Saturday crew, there are two other couples and three other men (their wives work in the office). Luckily, two of them had worked the year before and the months prior to us starting, so they knew how the events should be set up. Mike and Regina are from St Joe, Missouri and this is their first workamping job. Marty and Mary retired from Chicago and it is their first time at the park, they have been camp hosts at parks in the summer months. All of them live at the other end of the park because they have dogs with them, the park is divided with the pet section and those without pets. This park has a very nice dog run that the pet owners really like.
Saturday - This was a shorter day for us. We cleaned the shuffleboard courts again and then took down all the bingo tables and chairs, after the pancake breakfast was done using them. Then we learned how to set up for the weekly Saturday night dance. This was a smaller setup. Our work day was done at 11:00. We went home for lunch and then enjoyed the pool and hot tub again in the afternoon. As we sat at the pool, we watched more campers coming in to the park. The snowbirds were arriving and all around us we could hear people talking about the cold and snowy weather "back home".
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