For many reasons, we were both ready for a change in our lives. Rob had lost his sight in one eye due to a procedure performed on his AVM. The loss of dept deception was making it difficult for him at work. Neither of us liked the big city life, all our children had graduated from high school, except for Brook. I was Relief Society President with daily mounding problems. We longed for mountains, seasons and a "kicked back" way of life. While vacationing in McCall in April of 1992, we were approached at church by Knut Sjoberg. He invited us out to dinner and asked if we might be interested in managing his motel for $1,600. We laughed at the offer as we returned home to California. Rob, of course, was working in aerospace and making six figures. However, two days after arriving home The 1992 Los Angeles Riots, also known as the 1992 Los Angeles Civil Unrest and Rodney King Uprising were sparked on April 29, 1992, when a jury acquitted four white L.A. Police Dept. officers accused in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King following a high-speed pursuit. Thousands of people in the Los Angeles area rioted over the six days following the verdict. Robert was a victim of these riots. While at work , it was announced that they wanted NO one to leave the building for lunch as the riots were approaching the area and buildings were being burnt, etc. Later that afternoon, they asked everyone to leave. As Rob and six of his co-workers were crossing from one parking lot into another, crossing an intersection, a car turned around in the middle of the street and opened gun fire. Two of his co-workers were shot. Rob literally had to dart back and forth, avoiding the gun shots. He drove home trying to make eye contact with no one and being very nervous, as the traffic was bumper to bumper and many people on the roads and sidewalks seemed to be part of the protests, the drive home took him 2 1/2 hours. He walked in the door and said "Let's call that old duffer and see if he wants to sell the Motel. Five weeks later I was in McCall learning to run the Motel, as Rob was finishing up his work load and selling our home. We said good-bye to California in early July and was the proud owners of something we knew nothing about.
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The Motel had no street exposure, the sign you see in
this picture was once held by just a black pole
However, from day one it was a good business
We had 100% occupancy the first summer
It had a wonderful reputation of being clean,
quiet and low rates ($38.00 a night)
We always felt we were blessed with the
purchase of The Scandia Inn |
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We immediately starting improving
our first purchase was a phone system
(when we purchased the Motel, it had NO phones)
new linens were a must, Alice, the original owner
had patched sheets, using pieces of several
sheets to make one. They ironed all the pillow cases
because they were cotton--that definitely had to GO |
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The summer of 1994 we had a major fire season burning
over 9,600 acres, we thought it would ruin the tourist
season, NOT TRUE. We double rented rooms all
summer. Also cleaned them twice a day
Daytime sleepers for fire fighters
Late afternoon check-in for tourists
We used the extra income and bought big screen
T.V.s for all of the rooms and new well needed
bed coverings. (The original coverings were orange
polyester Birds of Paradise Flowers UGLY) |
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By the middle of the month in November 1994
we had already paid over $700 for snow removal |
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Rob negotiated with Marti Thied, who was plowing
our lot and bought Marti's "Big Boy" toy for himself |
In the Winters as we had extra time and our love was working with wood, we started what ended up being some major projects. Doing one of anything is fun, doing 16 to 32 of the same thing is a JOB.
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What we needed most was exposure. During the summer
we went into the Forest and cut logs. Rob designed this sign,
hand hewed the logs and completed this sign in 1994 |
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| It immediately increased our winter occupancy. |
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We purchased logs from McCall
Woodworking |
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Rob cut, hand hewed, drilled and
assembled new arms for 32 chairs
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I bacame the Staining Queen for all these projects,
for the Motel and the House |
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The chairs turned out so good, we decided to take the
out of style lamps and make log bases for them
Rob again cut, hand hewed, removed electrical parts from the
old lamps and WOW, what an improvement, but now
we needed new lampshades, so Lindy got creative and
made them |
Each Fall for four years we were visited by Blackie, Brownie
and Burly, they were the inspiration for theme rooms
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| Bear |
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| Moose |
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| Dear |
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| Finished lamp with matching keychain hanger |
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Rob took on a BIG job with this one!!
We needed lights coming up the drive-way
He made the poles, the covers and did
the electrical bringing the electricity in
from the highway. This project was
complicated--it took months.....
Picture of these lights can be seen
in photo #5 of this post |
With Rob busily working away on the drive-way lights
Lindy took on a big project of her own
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With the new chairs, lamps and wall hangings
we needed to improve the Entrance to the Room
The doors had gold letters A-U, probably bought
at the local handware store. We kept the letters
but cut new ones out of wood.....Lindy loved
working with the scroll saw, she busily went
to work |
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| The Motel was really lookin' Good....but we wanted MORE |
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We took one room and had it totally remodeled, the
carpenter's built furniture, took off the paneling
refinished the walls, ceilings, etc. We had new
carpeting layed. The room looked great
but the bill was much more than we
could afford for 15 more rooms |
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So Rob and I decided to do the rooms ourselves, it was
an undertaking, but WE DID IT.... We left the paneling
half way up, used a half log border. Notice the wood
scene at the top of the bed....done by Lindy on the
scroll saw. Also the wall hanging were pieced, they
turned out exceptionally well. The canoe on the side
wall was purchased and an added touch was stuffed
animals on the beds. Also notice the polar fleece
bedspreads. They washed and dried marvelously |
Our reputation was spreading people would call for a reservation and ask for a certain room. Our year round occupancy reached 76%. We paid the Motel off in 11 years and even hired BYU Idaho students to Manage the Motel for us in the summer time.
During one of these summers, we spent six weeks in
South America with the Bickmore's (look for Post)
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Thanks to Rosa we had eight wonderful years of our
Motel Rooms being taken care of. Rosa loved the
Motel and took pride in it, just as we did |
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Kate and Annie McMahan worked for us in the summers
they were great employees and such fun |
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We had BYU Idaho students to manage the Motel
for three summer
MIKE & MEL
were the best. We left them alone with the Motel
for six weeks while we toured So. America |
Because of the new Ski Resort Tamarack, the economy in McCall was bombing and in 2005 we were offered enough money for the Motel to allow us to serve missions, spend more time with our children and grandchildren so we officially retired
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We divided off the property, kept 1/2 acre for ourselves
and kept our lovely home which we had completely
remodeled over the years (see remodel post) |
p.s.
