Travel Blog

Before I talk a bit about our experience working for Spring Training concessions, I think I’ll write about our drive around the Superstition Mountains.

The first little town we came to featured a couple of prisons. I was too late on the shutter to get the picture I wanted of the Prison Swap Meet, or some such thing, but I nabbed a picture of the prison general store:

Prisons are big business around here.

Then it was on to the mountains. Aren’t they gorgeous?

We passed a little park on our way, and decided to stop and take some pictures of the cacti. You know my affinity for the prickly towers.

How's this for an artsy cactus shot?

Then it was on to find the Lost Dutchman mine and treasure galore. We didn’t find any lost gold, but we stopped by the Superstition Mountain Museum (but it was closed by the time we got there).

And we pulled into the Goldfield Ghostown and Mine Tour, but it was too crowded, so we didn’t stay long.

We did all this with the endgame being a big steak dinner at a local steak house. Phil had gotten directions for it via the internet, and we found it with no problem. Ok, one problem. It wasn’t open on Mondays. Oh well. Some other time.

Now, about this Aramark gig. I’m equating it with my experience at the sugar beet harvest. Seriously, I don’t know which I’d go back to before the other. The work isn’t hard, but it was like we were set up for failure. Phil was always going to be co-lead with someone who had done the job before, but then that guy didn’t show up, so Phil was under-trained. Then I was bumped from being a cashier to being the money lady, and though it’s nothing I can’t handle, it’s a load of work. And the main thing we have a problem with is that we’re responsible for inventory at the end of the day, but every Tom, Dick and Harry has access to our coolers and our backrooms. We have no idea what’s coming or going half the time, then we get chewed out when our numbers don’t mesh at the end of the day. And then we have workers who don’t speak or understand English, and that’s a whole other kettle of fish. All this for less than $100 a game! I’ll do a more complete writeup on this job like I did for our others at the end of the month so other Workampers can decide whether or not they would want to do this.

But there is good here too. We have some really great co-workers who work hard and can go with the flow. Without them, Phil and I would have packed up after the first game. They’re fellow Workampers, and in between the chaos, it’s been great talking with them about their experiences on the road. We’re even getting hooked up with connections in South Dakota from a couple who spent time there, so we’ll be in with the in-crowd from the start. And another couple has been to Custer State Park plenty of times, and even stay in the area in the summer, so we’ve learned a lot about the area from them too, and we’re even going to try to see them this summer. So there’s rays of light in the darkness that is Spring Training. And there’s only six games left, so don’t cry for us. Too much.