Subj:     143. Where are we?
Date:     Friday, February 20, 2004

We are still in El Centro, enjoying the mild winter weather, working a little bit, playing golf, and watching the Blue Angels practice.

For the last month or so, it seems like we have been very busy, we haven't had much time to do some sightseeing. We still want to visit some of the places nearby and take a trip to Mexico.

Adrienne has actually been very busy in the Cafe. On Valentine's Day, the Cafe had a special Prime Rib dinner and about 110 people were served at a sit down dinner. Larry even volunteered to help serve the dinner. The rest of the story is that the Chef was transferred to a sister park in Yuma and the new Chef (one of Larry's golf partners) was thrown into the turmoil of several big events. We both want to see Walt, the new Chef, be successful so we decided to volunteer some extra hours to help out. Of course this was only a few days after there was a golf tournament and 88 freshly cooked hamburgers were served within an hour. This is something else Larry volunteered for and from all the comments we've heard, it was very successful.

We mention this because we have both been asked to return to Rio Bend next year to work in the Cafe. If Larry had to work Security next year we probably wouldn't even consider the possibility. However, volunteering a few extra hours proved to be very beneficial. We don't know if we will return next winter but it's certainly a possibility. It's nice being asked to return.
 
Speaking of being asked to return, yesterday (Feb. 19) we received a phone call from Xanterra at Crater Lake National Park. Remember, this is where we worked last summer. They called to let us know they were mailing our new contracts for summer of 2004. Of course we will accept since we want to be close to Eugene where Larry's grandbaby is due in July. We also learned that we should have the same boss we had last summer, and will be working with the same two couples we worked with last summer. We are looking forward to working this summer at Crater Lake National Park. We don't have a start date yet but we will probably have to be at Crater Lake sometime toward the end of May. Last time we checked, there was 113 inches of snow at the Crater Lake Park Headquarters (only about three miles from where we will be working). We know that last year the campground didn't open until late June and didn't completely open until July 4. When we get our contracts we will learn when we have to be there.

We will be in El Centro until the end of March. Then we will have about a month and a half to visit our kids, grandkids, as well as friends before we have to be at Crater Lake.

We do have to say this about workamping. It's lots of fun; you get to meet some great people, you've got time to visit some places you've never seen before, and you get to save a few bucks.

The Brauers
Havin' Fun
Workamping in El Centro California