12/1/07 Our First Pancake Breakfast

The alarm went off this morning a few minutes after five or oh-dark-thirty as I like to think of it. I wish I could say we were well rested but that surely isn't the case after night we put in. Well, Bob more so than me.

Right around two thirty this morning somebody's car alarm went off. It took them FOREVER to get outside and shut it off. Then forty five minutes later I hear this loud noise outside and I go to the window and I can hear the wind and Bob is outside putting the awning up. That was no easy task as he had it anchored and lights were attached to it (not Christmas lights) Be now he's wide awake and I'm half awake and we hear the neighbors HUGE wind chimes that would put you in mind of the bells at Westminster Abbey clanging for all their worth in the now fierce winds. The 5th wheel was rocking in the wind and I looked at the clock and knew it was inching ever closer to the time when it would start its obnoxious clanging too. Oh, what a night!

I did manage to fall back to sleep and just a few minutes after the alarm clock started its call to get up. Luckily, I didn't have "bed head" and could get away with a quick shower and was dressed in no time. It only takes us two minutes to walk to the Cantina where the pancake breakfast would be served so Bob had plenty of time to get himself ready. He just wasn't moving too fast and I talked him into staying in the rig and going to sleep since he only had a few hours of shuteye. There were enough of us to handle the work, no need for him to be there. If the truth be told I really didn't expect much of a crowd. The wind was blowing really hard and I didn't think people would come out for pancakes but would rather stay snug in their rigs and eat cold cereal.

I was the first to arrive and one of the camp hosts came out of their rig and opened the building for me. I didn't have to wait long before the other workampers showed up. Several were also out during the night putting awnings up due to the wind. We all looked tired and sleep deprived. We started in right away getting pancakes cooked, sausages warmed up, fruit cups filled, coffee made, orange juice put in pitchers and Styrofoam plates and plastic ware set out. By seven, we were sitting down to breakfast ourselves, getting it out of the way before the winter residents started arriving at 7:30. We had about thirty for breakfast, more than I thought would show up. We served until nine and the cleanup started. Actually, that didn't take all that long because we cleaned up as we went along all morning.

The topic of conversation was certainly the howling wind we are having. The weatherman says it will be like this all day but tomorrow we'll be back to sunny and mid-seventies. We can't wait!

The wind didn't let up at all during the day and times had very strong gusts. Strong enough that the rig just shook. Our rig weighs approximately eight tons as it sits right now so you can imagine how strong the winds were.

I had thought that when I returned from the pancake breakfast that I would take a nap but that wasn't the case. When I walked in the door I guess I caught a second wind (no pun intended) and didn't feel like sleeping. At four thirty it finally got the best of me and I laid across the bed to watch a movie and the next thing I knew I was waking up at quarter to seven.

We had soup and sandwiches for dinner and it wasn't long before we were settled in for the night.

NOTE: For those readers for whom I don't have an email address, I went back and filled in some places that I hadn't written anything due to lack of computer, or lack of Internet signal or was having problems uploading pictures. You can go to October 20th and catch up on the posts I filled in.