This blog will encompass the week of March 30-April 4, 2009... I realize that I have been derelict in my blogging responsibilities, but bear with me because the adventures are coming at a fever clip and I need to stay on top of things so that I can accurately report the goings-on before they become muddled in my "not yet active" adult mind... After the LPGA tournament and golf with my buddies on Sunday, I received a call from the security guard company on Monday (I was on the golf course, of course!) asking me if I could work on Tuesday at "Country Thunder" a four day (now 5) country music festival in Florence, Arizona. They wanted me to work from 5pm til midnight so I said sure... (more hours = more money = more golf = more smiles). I was already scheduled to work Wednesday thru Saturday at the same time, and it allowed me the chance to play golf before reporting to work... Google posted the commute at a about an hour each way so it won't be as bad as Tuscon... (or so one might think!)... Later on that day I received another call from the company saying that the schedule had been changed and they needed me to confirm my times... Now I was working Tuesday from 5 til midnight, Wednesday from 7 pm til 1 am, Thursday from 3 pm til 11 pm, off Friday and Saturday from 9am til 1 pm. Not the amount of hours I was expecting but at least I was in...
As most of you know (and those who didn't now know), I am a huge country music fan... The chance to be at a show featuring such stars as Alan Jackson, Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, and Montgomery Gentry was a great opportunity for me to listen to some great music and get paid to do it... I was hoping that this would top my golf gig in Tucson where I was up close and personal with my golf heroes... I left Tuesday afternoon at around three pm (after a morning round of golf) because I had never ventured this way into the Arizona desert and 4 miles into the ride, civilization went away... (I'm not kidding). I was on a two lane highway going to "nowhere" and passing "nothing" on the way... (it was alot like driving through Texas, except there were no windmills)... I found myself talking to my Jeep and hoping nothing would go wrong with her especially on the rides home around midnight or 1 am... "Paris" got me lost (that's my GPS unit) and I ended up in the bustling metropolis that is Florence, Arizona... (four blocks long, general store and "travel back in time" feel to it). Reminded me of downtown Keokuk, Iowa only smaller. Several of the "towns" surrounding Florence were established in the 1920's reminding me that Arizona isn't even 100 years old yet (admitted to the Union on February 14, 1912--useless knowledge factoid of the day). So I whipped out my printed directions (sorry, Paris) and managed to find the entrance to the event. Of course it was on an alfalfa farm and I was really glad I had a Jeep. I parked the truck and walked up to find out what the gig was...
There were no shows scheduled until Wednesday, so Tuesday was check-in day for all the people who were camping out for the weekend... RVs, Campers, and Pop-ups filled the entrance and our job was to process their tickets, camping passes, porta-potty sales (oh, yes) and hook them up with windshield stickers and all week wrist bands... in other words I was the farthest you could be from the stage and still be on the property... The people who ran the ticketing booths were from Canada and ran a similar event up there... They picked me out of a line-up ("you look smart") and put me in the booth to learn the system of sales, stickers and wrist bands... after 20 minutes they left me to take a break and I was running the booth... (my company will not allow you to handle money unless you take a "class") but there I was. The flow of traffic didn't stop until around 10:30 pm and at 11 they signed us out for the day... I set Paris on home and she performed beautifully as I weaved through the pitch black night (saw several coyotes, bats and prairie dogs) and made it home... Tomorrow the regular fans show up... I'm leaving even earlier because there is only one way in and out (dirt, single lane road, alot like Pocona Raceway) and I'm not sitting in a line to go work on a line...
Wednesday I got stuck in the line! 1 hour drive through nowhere, 1 hour drive at the entrance... I made there with 20 minutes to spare... The lead guy told me that I was going inside today and that meant crowd control and hopefully a spot near the stage... then the guy in charge of the ticket line saw me and told the lead he wanted me to stay because I did such a great job the day before (Curses!). I looked at the lead like "dude, take me inside" but he says "whatever the client wants" and I'm back in the booth... (One plus, the booth has both AC and heat and I used both because it was blistering hot on Wed. and freezing that night... God, I love this place!) At least it wasn't a repeat of the "Cheeto" gig from last week... Time flew by on Wednesday and Thursday... it was busy from the time I started until they came to relieve me and send me home... The concert had started and from my vantage point I couldn't see the stage nor hear one note of music...(I have to stop getting excited about these jobs until I'm assigned)... Oh, well...
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