Once again the days seemed to have flown by. This is turning out to be the busiest month we have ever had. That means we don’t really have enough staff so the managers having being filling in more than they usually do. It also means you can never count on what is going to happen next. Yesterday was the perfect example.
Monday is Dave’s day off so Marilyn is on the front desk alone until 2:00 in the afternoon. I usually come in to help her. Monday’s are always busy with people getting fishing licenses, new guests with questions, the phone ringing with more questions. You get the idea. Marilyn is much better than I am on the front desk but I can answer more questions than she can about the area.
So it is almost 2:00. The place is a zoo with guests, people for lunch, riders for horseback and lookers. All of a sudden Bruce appears to ask if I am ready to go. Go where? It seems we are driving down to Lutsen Resort to get some plans for their staff housing. We are going to build new housing this fall. It is really hot out so a drive in an air conditioned car sounds pretty good. Also it is a good chance for us to just talk for three hours. Off we go.
An hour and a half later we are at Lutsen talking with Nancy about what they did for staff housing a few years ago. After about 20 minutes we are back on the road home. In Grand Marais we stop at Dairy Queen and also gas the car. The ride home seems easy and we should make it for me to be the hostess at dinner.
Just before we get to Trail Center, there is a truck in the ditch. While going off the road, the truck hits one of the green boxes that splice together the main power line. The box is burning and there is a piece of line sticking up in the air. No sign of the driver, but the truck did not roll over. We will meet the ambulance and fire truck as we continue home. The driver was OK but probably a little shaken up.
The next issue is that this accident took out power for the entire trail. We know that Don is in one of the emergency vehicles we passed. At the lodge soups are slowly heating on our gas fired stove. Salads and cold sandwiches will round out the gourmet menu for the night. Paper plates come out of storage. There is some light in the lodge as we have a special circuit that is cut off from the main line. We start serving meals. Five-gallon buckets are stacked in the entryway for lake water to flush toilets. Dave has a key to open the cash register so Bruce goes to find him. Meanwhile Sheryl finds her key to do the same thing. We are functioning for dinner.
Just as Bruce gets back, he and I and Adam walk down to Cabin #5. Adam is going to marry a couple and we are the witnesses. Luckily it is not a long service but it is nice.
About 8:00 p.m. the power comes back on. We start to fire up the electric appliances in the kitchen. This takes about 30 minutes. Now we can serve the bistro menu to those who have not eaten yet. Things are still a little chaotic but the worst is over. As usual the staff adapted and pulled us through.
Around 8:30 Bruce and I go home. I had made some soup for dinner. That was about all we were up to eating and it tasted very good.
You just never know what is going to happen during the day at Gunflint.
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