What are we doing?

Good morning!

Whew! I think I can finally take a breath. Let's see last time I checked in we were still in Eugene. What a week we have had.

Jump from Eugene to Salem. The guys worked from Sunday morning at 9:00 till Monday morning at 11:00. As soon as the guys were done on Monday Ron and I got the motor home ready to head out to Salem. We left Eugene about 12:30 p.m. Ron drove to Salem 65 miles away. Our first stop was Winco. I was in there for an hour ~ Ron slept while I picked up groceries. Next stop was Costco. Never one to miss free samples Ron joined me on that errand. Then off to the laundromat ~ what an experience. Ron slept while I was doing the work ~ a much needed nap for him. First the washer didn't work. Then the second washer didn't start. Finally got the clothes clean but then the first dryer didn't start. After 1 hour and 45 minutes later and three trips to find the gal working at the laundromat I got that necessary job done. Woke Ron up so we could head to the bone yard. Found the State Fair grounds, found the bone yard and learned that we could take this big ole beast 4~wheeling. We are camped in a grove of big oak trees and the ground is bumpy to say the least.

We got parked and set up and then I remembered we did not stop and get propane! So we undid everything and went in search of a gas station. Found two right across the street from each other. One was $2.99 per gallon for propane and the other was $2.85 per gallon. Of course the one with the cheaper propane was not the one we were at so we had to drive around the block and then pull in. Got the propane and headed back to the bone yard. We had not gotten propane since the middle of May when we pulled into Portland for the Rose Festival ~ we were surprised we had been able to go that long between fill ups. Got back in the bone yard and set everything up again. Time for our usual jump day dinner: Costco rotisseri chicken, garlic bread and salad. Had a great dinner and then went to bed about 8:45 ~ it had been a long day.

Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday Ron did set up of the rides. He worked 8 hours a day and so we had some time to relax in the evening. One evening we spent talking with Eric & Diane until the mosquitoes arrived for their dinner. We didn't feel like serving them dinner so we retired to our motor home and headed off to bed. Tuesday I worked 5 hours and then just a couple of hours on Wednesday and Thursday.

The fair opened at 11:00 Friday morning. We had a pretty uneventful day as far as the carnival went. I did have one problem. I got reamed out by someone for something I did not do. She yelled at me for a good ten minutes. I held the phone away from my ear. Later I talked with Ron about the situation. We decided we are going to talk to Rob next week when he gets back from New York. We have decided if it happens again we will be quitting. I will not work in a place where I am treated like a little child and basically called a liar. On Saturday I was told by Mr. B that I would have off most of the day. I was pleasantly surprised and looked forward to having some time off to enjoy the fair.

Later I found out why I got the day off. Someone told Mrs. B that I was way into overtime so they pulled Debbie off of her job and made her cover customer service for the day. This was another lie as up to Saturday I had only worked 23 hours. Ron and I talked about what happened and decided we will be bringing this up with Rob also. On a positive note I did enjoy my time off. Another gal, Claudia, from the White Unit also had off so we spent the afternoon walking around checking out the exhibits. I bought a cool ice cube tray from the Tupperware lady ~ it has a flat top with an opening to fill it with water. Once the ice is frozen I can pull off the top and voila I have ice cubes ~ great for us for when we travel we don't have water spilling all over.

I also bought Ron a surprise. As many of you know we had to get rid of our dog, Charlie Brown, to come work for the carnival. I had seen these little dogs that sit in their own bed and run off a battery. When they are lying there it looks like they are breathing. Most places have been selling them for $20 - too much for me. But this one lady had about 20 of them left and is retiring after this fair season so she had lowered them to $10. I decided to buy one and put him on the top of the printer where Charlie Brown used to sleep. I told Ron I bought him a surprise but did not tell him what it was. He didn't find it Saturday night and was getting frustrated on Sunday when he couldn't figure it out. So I played the hot/cold game with him. He finally found it and just laughed. So now CB JR has a home on the front dash watching over our rig. It was a great way to spend $10 and get a big laugh from Ron.

Sunday was a much better day for the both of us. Ron is getting more responsibility now. He now breaks five guys on their rides, does maintenance each morning on two rides and checks the scan guns in/out each morning. Customer service is going well. On Sunday afternoon I got a great compliment from Mr. B ~ he said he heard that our time in Eugene was pretty uneventful and that there were no major problems at Customer Service. He thanked me for doing a great job.

Yesterday was our first special at the carnival. The tickets were $0.35 each instead of $0.75. We had a steady crowd all day till it completely died around 10:00 p.m. We close at 11:00 p.m. I did have to be rescued from a customer by Rick once and by Ronnie B once. It was after the special went off ~ the discount tickets were stopped at 5:00 p.m. The first time one lady came up very angry. While she was buying her tickets the sale went off, she was only able to buy 3 cards at the sale price. It was not fair. I tried to explain to her that the sale ended at 5:00 p.m. sharp and the computer is programmed to stop selling at that time and there was nothing I could do. She got real beligerant with me and finally after about 10 minutes Rick came up to the window restated what I had been saying and said there was nothing we could do. She just looked at Rick dumbfounded and stomped down the stairs.

About 6:30 the second incident happened. These two ladies came up to the window. One whipped out a wad of bills, a ticket card and two receipts out of her bra. She said they had a problem. She went on to explain that she bought two cards but the cashier only gave her one card and two receipts. I put the number of the card (got it off the receipt) that she said she did not get into the computer system so I could cancel the card. But wouldn't you know it. She bought the card at 4:16 and it was used at 4:24 by three people going on rides. Ronnie asked her how many kids were in her party. She said 3 and quickly said, no we have five people in our party. I showed her on the computer how the card had been used at multiple rides for three persons each. I explained there was nothing I could do. It had been over two hours since she supposedly was not given the card. Her story just did not make sense. She had three kids, each ride was done by 3 people and it had taken over an hour to do those rides. She got quite angry at me. Wanted to speak to the owner. Ronnie said he was the owner. She wanted his name. He told her Ron. She started yelling. She was going to the fair board, we had ripped her off of $42. She was calling her congressman, the newspaper and the TV news to tell them Funtastic ripped her off of $42. Now her kids would not be able to enjoy the fair. And then they both stomped off the deck of Customer Service.

Other than those two incidents Customer Service went well. Now to start another day at the fair.

Some of you have asked about Ron writing a blog post so you can get a taste of the fair from his perspective. I will try to get him to do a blog post sometime in the middle of next week while doing set up at the Puyallup Fair when we work just eight hour days.

Well, it's time for me to head out the door for work so I will close for now. Thanks for reading about our adventure.

Prayer Requests ~

1. We have a dear friend who's son was involved in a very bad motorcycle accident early last week. Colby was on the motorcycle when he was hit broad side by a van. He is now at Harborview with many broken and fractured bones. He is on a ventilator and a morphine drip for pain. Please keep him and his family in your prayers as he struggles to get well and the family surrounds him 24 hours a day. The Moulaison's are a strong God loving family and are trusting the Lord for healing for Colby. Please also pray for strength for Kris, Eddie and the rest of the family as they are there with Colby.

2. Continued prayer for us as we finish up here in Salem and make the jump to Puyallup on Tuesday, 9/7. We open in Puyallup on Friday, 9/10. It is a 16 day fair. Pray for strength and safety for us as we work long hours and 16 days straight.

Thanks for all your support and love during our adventure of working with the carnival. I will do another update either Monday night or Tuesday once we are in Puyallup.

Thanks for reading. Don't forget to leave a note and let me know you were here.

Alice