Sept 17

5.30 am.
Well, so much for starting to relax.

I got called into the office yesterday early to meet with Alfred, the Operations Chief. He said they really need help at Akela Flats in New Mexico and how would I like to transfer there this coming week?

So I'm leaving here Sunday and going to spend the evening/night at Beth's house in Tucson, and will go on from there on Monday morning. I guess that's all the time we'll have.

Akela Flats is about halfway between Deming and Las Cruces. The store is about three times larger than this one and has an old-west stores facade (and no Dairy Queen, which is a good thing). It's at 4000 ft. so it should be cooler and have some trees. There's three RV sites right behind the store, even closer than they are here, and one mobile home site. The managers live across the highway on their own property, and their sons both work in the store, as well as other people. One son is going to trade school in a couple of weeks and I'm replacing him. Family businesses are always problematic but we'll see how it goes -- and I can always call Alfred and ask to be transferred again. I'll be getting more hours, too -- and we'll see how that goes as well.

I understand there's a casino there so it's a place to go for a night out. Deming is 20 miles west and Las Cruces is 40 miles east and I expect that's where shopping for groceries is. Las Cruces is bigger so it may have a B&N or a Borders for books. I'll miss Bookman's for used books here in Tucson as it's one of the best I've seen in the country.

Alfred mentioned how good the displays look and Chuck told him I had done them all, so he complimented me, which I accepted with my customary modesty. After the meeting, he told Chuck that he liked me.

I'm going to miss Chuck; he's a good boss. And the company is transferring Travis and Micah, too, to "The Thing" store in Benson AZ, where they're going to have to work in the DQ as well. So they're really cutting the payroll here. Everybody who's staying is a local hourly worker, so Chuck's the only RVer left here. Well, Dennis and Sharon are still here, but they manage the Plaza across the road. And Travis and Micah aren't RVers; they live in one of the trailers onsite here.

The schoolbus just picked up Micah's son -- at 5.30 am! Poor kid.