Mayday

No, this is not a call for help. Today’s post is about the end of another month. May has been interesting and has flown by faster than greased lightening.

First big event for us this month was ‘ Smokin on the Lake’ May 17-19. This is an annual event for Mark Twain Landing RV Resort. Just like other BBQ competition. The idea is to BBQ the best chicken, pork ribs, pork butt, beef brisket, or deserts. Top winner can take away $800. Rules are simple and must be followed. There is also a kids competition to encourage a new generation fo ‘Q’ers. All of this is judged by KCBS. Click Mark Twain Landing Facebook page to see photos of this event plus many other. The park was pretty full.

Unfortunate for me, I was unable to get out to mingle with the group very much. Friday evening as I stepped into our motor home, my left knee made this horrible sound.  C R A C K! Think of this as a sound you never want to hear. As I attempted to put weight on my left leg, I felt excruciating pain in my knee. This is not a good thing. I spent the rest of Friday with ice on my knee. Carol was out visiting with the crowd when I did this. By the time she got back, I was already in bed and had taken a healthy dose of Advil.  Saturday morning, I was able to put weight on my knee but did not think it would be a good idea to walk around on it so I asked for a couple of days off to give my knee a chance to recuperate. By Tuesday, I felt better and headed to work.

Following ‘Smokin on the Lake’ we had one week to get the park cleaned up for a full Memorial Day weekend.  I had some small repair chores to take care of plus having to check all outside 110V electrical receptacles to make sure they worked. Over the previous weekend, there were several complaints about outside receptacles not working. Of all these receptacles, I replaced one bad receptacle. I also had time to built a door latch and door pull for the gate on the fence I finished the previous week.

Friday 5/24 we had a steady line of RVer’s checking in. The park was scheduled to be full Memorial Day weekend. Saturday, Splash Landing, the cool water park that is just across the road from the RV park, was scheduled to officially open. Mother Nature had other plans. Rain, kept the park closed until Sunday. We have not had many warm sunny days so the water temperature was a chilly 57 degrees. That did not deter the locals; they were all ready for the water park. The few brave souls who got wet were able to claim the title “First In”. Sunday was a beautiful sunny day. Just another workday for me. I spent most of the day making a table for the snack bar at Splash Landing. Also worked on repairing a couple of holes in the ceiling at the snack bar that were accidentally put there during by two other workampers who completed a major electrical reroute. That is what carpenters do.

Other than having a couple of campers who did not understand they could not put up tents next to their RV (park rules) and finding a broken CATV cable, the weekend was pretty good. We had several large family groups here. Apparently the three day weekends are filled with large groups. As I took care of some small repairs on Monday, several first time campers commented to me about how much they enjoyed the park.

My last big project for the month was overlaying a metal roof over an old roof that leaked like a colander. My knee got a workout going up and down the ladder, plus crawling around securing the new roof. Glad I got it done yesterday – we had rain today.

Carol is improving in rehab from her Rotator Cuff surgery. She is also working more hours which is helpful. She has been working at the gate checking folks in and out. Last week she worked at the ticket booth at Splash Landing. This weekend she will be running the cash register at the restaurant.

We have experienced more rain during the two months we’ve been here. Plus we’ve sheltered for two tornado warnings. We are working with a good group of workampers and campground managers. There is a good possibility that we will be back here next summer and may have options to work at other Legacy parks around the US. That would be cool.

Thanks for stopping by. Y’all come back now.