October 23, 2004

October 23, 2004

St. James to YMCA Of The Ozarks Trout Lodge , Potosi, Missouri

DAY 128

 

I discovered this morning that yesterday when I was adding some oil to Dee-Dee, I got distracted by visitors, and forgot to replace the oil filler cap. I left it sitting on top of the turbocharger and it must have fallen off as soon as we started driving, I guess. DAMN ! ! ! I had to stuff a rag in the oil filler tube temporarily.

It was a very warm day today. At one point this afternoon I checked the thermometer on the outside of the trailer, and it read 88 degrees. Manitoba relatives ; eat your hearts out !

We left Pheasant Acres this morning heading east on Hwy. 8. Hwy. 8 is a very scenic back country road through the rural area of the Eastern Ozarks. It was a bit of a difficult drive, however, as Hwy. 8 is a two lane road with no shoulders, winding up and down and around through the Eastern Ozarks. We are still surprised by seeing the little hillbilly communities that pop up out of nowhere along the back roads in the Ozarks in Kentucky and Missouri. Little collections of half a dozen decrepit old mobile homes clustered together in an area.

I've just scanned through all available radio stations here at Trout Lodge, near Potosi, Missouri. My choices seem to be 5 country stations and 1 head banger station.

We stopped for diesel at Steelville. GAW LEE ( a local expression ) ! Diesel is 20¢ a gallon more expensive out here in the "boonies".

We arrived here at YMCA Of The Ozarks shortly after noon to begin our "Workamper" job. We checked in at the front desk, and were escorted to their 4 site RV Park on the outer edge of their 5200 acre property. We unhitched and set up the trailer. We're the only rig here at the moment. This is home for the next 5 weeks. We had lunch in the trailer, then headed back to the lodge to begin exploring. That's probably the last meal we'll have in the trailer for the next 5 weeks. Our Workamper "pay" includes 3 meals a day in the lodge dining room. We each "work" 20 hours a week, for 3 meals a day in the lodge, and an RV site with electricity, water, and sewer hook ups.

We were supposed to start "work" tomorrow, but our "boss" had to go to Texas for the weekend, so our assignment will begin Monday morning. Joanne is assigned to front desk reception and phone. I am assigned a variety of jobs ; leading group fishing trips, taking groups of about a dozen lodge guests on pontoon boat tours of the 1 sq. mile lake for about an hour, and leading group hikes to the nature centre ( about a 1/4 mile from the main lodge on an asphalt path ) to see the nature displays ; live rabbits, ducks, snakes, rodents, freshwater fish in aquarium tanks, etc.. Sounds like tough work ! < snicker SNORT >

We visited with Julie for awhile, the only other Workamper here at the moment. She's been here a month, and will be here for another month. She's a single woman about our age living and travelling full time in a real spiffy little Class C motor home. She doesn't want to be parked way out here at the edge of the property, because she doesn't have a "toad" ( a small car towed behind one's motor home ). It's too far to walk from the RV Park to the main lodge. She's parked in the employee's parking lot by the lodge, and just comes here to the RV Park once a week to dump her tanks and refill with water. Plus, I think she might feel a little safer parked close to the lodge, rather than way out here. The RV Park is pretty isolated. Joanne really likes private, secluded areas like this. She'd fit in real well with the rural Ozarks hillbilly redneck survivalists out here

< snicker SNORT >.

We spent a couple of hours, until supper, exploring Trout Lodge and surrounding area. It will take a lot more than a few hours to see everything. There are three distinct facilities here. The main Trout Lodge, an upscale resort. Camp Lakewood, a summer youth camp. Triangle Y Ranch, a "dude ranch". Trout Lodge, and Camp Lakewood, overlook Sunnen Lake, a one square mile lake, with 5 miles of shoreline. The fall foliage colours on the hills surrounding Sunnen Lake are astounding right now ! I will take some pictures in the next day or two, and attach them to my blog.

We walked around the main lodge, then along the waterfront to Camp Lakewood, checking out the docks, boats, beach, etc. on the way. We spent a little time on Trout Lodge's huge dining room deck built out over the lake, leaning over the railing to watch fish in the lake. There are trout pellet dispensers on the deck, so the fish hang around at the edge of the deck waiting for "easy pickings". Finally, we went inside to have buffet dinner in the dining room. Just like an all inclusive resort in the Caribbean, without the pinã coladas. I wonder how much weight I can gain eating 3 meals a day in a buffet restaurant, for 5 weeks ? Oh, well ... I can always work off those calories driving that pontoon boat around <snicker SNORT >.

DSK