Winter Excursion 8, Day 91 The Life of a Camp Host

It's like groundhog day (which is this Friday) around here. There is still only four campers in the park. Cath and I are going to get lazy waiting for this place to fill up. The sites remain clean and the bathhouse is hardly used.

I did cleanup the other Host Site as our new Co-hosts arrive tomorrow. We have worked with them before and we are looking forward to the next three months with them.

The find of the day is this twisty.

We find them all over the park. I wish I had started a twisty store years ago. We'd be rolling in dough! Bread dough..get it?,,,LOL.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 90 The Life of a Camp Host

With still only four campers here it was another easy day. The bathhouse had not even been used for the most part.

The wind was still kicking today, but finally died off late afternoon.

We did leave camp to do some shopping and fill up one of the propane tanks. Temps are forecast to be in the low 30s tonight.

We had two campers arrive and occupy sites 3 and 4 (buddy site). When I went over to greet them I noticed their license plates were New York and the license plate holder said "Caparra" (a local car dealership at home). I asked where they were from and they said Upstate NY. I asked where and they replied "Watertown"!

Next camper to arrive had Pennsylvania plates on their van. I asked where they were from and they said Harrisburg (where I was born)!

It's a small world!

Find of the day was this Equate Floss Brush.

If we don't get some campers here soon I'm going to run out of "finds of the day"!
   

Winter Excursion 8, Day 89 The Life of a Camp Host

It was a very easy day and that was good as we want to watch the football games this afternoon.

We only had two new campers arrive. That leaves four in camp!

The bathhouse has been hardly used, but we gave it a good cleaning anyway. The water has cleared up nicely. The staff and I all have our guesses as to what caused the problem yesterday, but no one knows for sure. I think it's from the maintenance they did and since the "run" to the well is around a quarter mile and it took that long for the "crude" to be flushed out.

The wind was kicking today and temps fell back into the low 50s. The new flags were flying nicely!

The find of the day was this "baby" battery I found near site #20.

And this "Daddy" battery I found near the office.

Daddy's name is Max and I'm sure they are happy to be back together again!

Winter Excursion 8, Day 88 The Life of a Camp Host

The day started out easy. Bathhouse was in good shape this morning and only one new camper arriving today and one leaving.

Around noon when we went to clean the bathhouse we both noticed that the water in the toilets and sinks was black! Not just a little dark, BLACK! We called the Ranger and immediately and started to flush the system again by running some empty campsite faucets. We have been having some discoloration with the water as there has been some recent maintenance on the chlorinator, but nothing like this. After running the faucets for over 30 mins the water got better. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it stays that way. Time will tell.

While all this water stuff was going on we had a stray dog show up in the campground. I put a leash on her (she's very friendly) and put her in the Ranger's cart and went in search of the owner. We found her home about a mile away, The owner was happy to see her back.

Even with all this I did have a find of the day.

It's the Grinch's green pencil left over (lost) during the holidays. With all the water issues I feel like the Grinch is just around the corner!

Winter Excursion 8, Day 87 The Life of a Camp Host

After all the "setup" the past two days, life is back to normal. The morning was spent getting all the sites ready for the weekend campers. We have 14 arriving.

While cleaning up site #21 I got the find of the day.

These were lying close to each other, but I scoured the site really good thinking I had struck it rich, but it was not to be! These will be added to our laundry quarters.

In the afternoon we just welcomed all the new arriving campers. Cath made my day by making these two Banana Breads. It was really supposed to be one, but she forgot her bread pan, so she used two of our grease catching pans from the Blackstone.

They are sooooo cuuuute!

It will be a fun weekend with all the new campers!

  

Winter Excursion 8, Day 86 The Life of a Camp Host

The campers are still being kind to us, there are only two in the campground so we have plenty of time to finish setting up.

We spent most of the day setting up our "drive-thru" garage.

It's right behind the camper. 

It allows us to empty the truck bed and it's "drive-thru" as it has two opposing screen doors, so I can drive the e-bile thru.

With only two campers here the bathhouse was hardly used, but we did spruce it up.

Later in the day we had four more campers arrive. The place has turned into Grand Central Station!

The find of the day is this.

I'm not sure what it's supposed to be. It is filled with confetti and tied with a rubber band. I only found one along the park road on the way to the office. The Park Ranger found about twenty of them scattered along the road to the boat ramp. There was a big party in one of the conference rooms yesterday and he thinks a bag of them may have flown out of a pickup truck on the way out. BTW..although they look like balloons, they are NOT! Use your imagination.

 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 85 The Life of a Camp Host

We woke up to dense fog and drizzle this morning. Everything is soaked which will make it fun for moving to the other host site today.

I did a quick look around the campground as we are "on" now. There is only one camper in the campground. The bathhouse was hardly used. At least we won't have to worry about the campground while we move.

By 1000 we were in our new site and spent the rest of the day setting everything up. Here's a pic.

By 1600 we were set up. My watch told me I had over 23,000 steps today. That meant it was "Miller Time". It felt good to sit down and relax. We sat outside until dark and got this pic of the moon rising. We could watch it from our rockers. It was 95% full and waning.

Even though we spent most of the day moving I still managed a Find of the Day.

I'm not even sure what it is!

All is well in the Boss Camp. We will be in this site until 30 April.

 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 84 The Life of a Camp Host

We spent the morning shopping for supplies as we are "on" for at least the next seven days.

Our co-host is leaving tomorrow and will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary. That's why we had seven days off.

In the afternoon we got the camper ready to move and cleaned up our site. The new co-host arrives on 31 Jan.

The campground is not busy at all. There is only two campers here and one is leaving in the morning.

In the evening we said goodbye to our co-hosts. It's been nice working with them for the past month and we hope to work with them again.

As fate would have it they blew the bead on an inside tire on their dually. Jerry and I had to unhook the camper, take the truck to the maintenance shed, and air up the tire. Luckily the tire took air, we were worried the bead would not re-seal. We re-hooked the camper and they were off.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 83 The Life of a Camp Host

We left the Kiddos around 0830 after Brian and the Kiddos had left for school and work.

The drive back to camp was easy, we took the back roads. We arrived at camp around 1200 after a quick lunch in Statesboro.

First order of business was to de-winterize the camper. The temps were so low over the weekend we were afraid to not winterize it. Everything was OK.

Second on the agenda was to fill the birdfeeder. Both the birds and the squirrels were upset that it was empty.

We took a short walk around the campground. There is only one camper!

We spent the late afternoon relaxing. We watched a little TV, and had a nice dinner. I was in bed by 2000, Cath about an hour later.

We had a fun weekend with the Kids and Kiddos, but it's nice to be back to our "Tiny House".

Winter Excursion 8, Day 82 The Life of a Camp Host

We all left the house around 0900 and headed to Big Bad Breakfast. It's just around the corner from their neighborhood. It is a great breakfast spot.

Back home Brian and I started on the cushions, but hit a snag right away. We forgot to get the "memory foam" out of it's boxes yesterday and it takes 24 - 48 hours to full expand. We didn't want to cut it until it was fully expanded. Brian will wrap it with fabric and bunting next week. So we changed our plans. First we sanded some drywall he had mudded and then started on the lattice work out back.

After another walk that little pup conked out again, this time on Kennedy's lap.

Football was once again on the agenda for the evening. Brian made some really good lobster rolls and Nicole whipped up some wings. Sounds like yummy football food to me.

After the games we all went to bed. Tomorrow is school, work, and traveling back to camp for us.

It's been a fun, but tiring weekend for us.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 81 The Life of a Camp Host

After everyone managed to get up this morning we had a nice breakfast and then the day began.

We all had a nice but chilly walk to the boat dock and back. We even took the little pup and he did get cold and needed to be carried.

On the way back Wesley showed me a short trail he and his buddies had found. At the end we got a pic of this guy.

Back at the house the little pup slept for quite awhile. He's only nine weeks old.

It's was cold all day here by southern standards and a lot of things got canceled. Kennedy had a book club meeting, but her Girl Scout stuff in the afternoon was canceled.

Wesley and his buddies played football all afternoon, weather was not a factor..LOL

Brian and I got all the stuff from the hardware store we need to replace some lattice under the back porch and to make the seat cushions for the upstairs dormer window boxes.

By 1500 we were finished and sat down to watch some football. 

Brian made some killer ribs wrapped around a pineapple. I will definitely try this myself.

We watched the games until almost midnight. We will sleep good tonight.  

Winter Excursion 8, Day 80 The Life of a Camp Host

Since we have 7 days off we decided to do some traveling.
We got up this morning at 0600. Winterized the camper as temps for the next three days will be close to the teens at night and drove to Santee State Park in South Carolina.

We spent a few hours with some FROG friends we met last year at the Chenango FROG Rally. It was good to see them!

Then we drove to the Kiddos house and met the new pup, Beau.

Kaylee was less than impressed, but that little puppy is super cute.

We spent the afternoon with the Kiddos. Brian got home early and we all enjoyed a Friday night pizza dinner.

Watched a movie and then we all hit the rack. It's been a fun day!

Winter Excursion 8, Day 79 The Life of a Camp Host

We were off today, but had fun. Here's the story.

Three years ago when we first hosted here I always wondered about the flagpole at the campground entrance and why there was never a flag on it. As it was our first year I didn't bring up the subject with the staff or the more experienced hosts.

Last year I was still the "newbie host" and did not ask again.

This year I couldn't stand it any more and asked the maintenance guy about the flagpole. His answer surprised me. He said he didn't know there was a flagpole in the campground! Next I asked the Assistant Ranger the same question and got the same answer. "what flagpole"? Finally I asked the Park Ranger. He also said he'd never seen a flagpole in the campground, but we have one at office. They came over to the campground and were surprised when I pointed out the flagpole. I was amazed they never knew. If you didn't make the turn after entering the campground you would collide with the pole.

So this year I inspected the flagpole. It was in good shape! I asked the Park Ranger if I could fly a flag on it. I told him I would donate the light and lanyard if he would supply the flags.  He was all about it as he had both a US Flag and a GA State Flag at the office. I ordered the light and lanyard and they arrived today. Both Rangers helped with the flag raising and here is the result.

I can't wait to see it this evening when the light comes on!

Winter Excursion 8, Day 78 The Life of a Camp Host

So after a couple of very busy days between the Holiday exodus and the freezing temps we slept in till almost 0900. We are off for the next seven days!

Temps last night went down to 21. For the way the locals in this area act you would think it was a catastrophe! Our dripping worked as we had no busted faucets or water lines at our campground. Our sister camp 30 miles away had two busted faucets as the campers did not do what they were asked and left their hoses hooked up and did not drip.

We drove into town today for a few supplies. The weather is actually very nice, high 40s, but forecast for the low 20s again tonight.

We spent much of the day in the camper watching the birds at the feeder and the other critters who think that the feeder is for them.

At one time there were six squirrels, but I only got five in the pic.

I'm only prepping them for when I bring out the traps!

 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 77 The Life of a Camp Host

Super easy day. We had two leave, both Class Cs, and they tend to not really use the site so cleanup was easy.  The bathhouse had hardly been used. There are four campers in the campground now. Temps are forecast to be in the low 20s tonight and tomorrow night. We dripped all the faucets and will see in the morning how we faried.

The find of the day was this dog chew/tug-of-war toy.

There is probably one upset dog somewhere as this toy has been well used.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 76 The Life of a Camp Host

The day started at 0800 with the bathhouse check. With the campground full we were happy that the bathhouse was in great shape.

Had only a few campers arriving, but 19 departing. The word of the day is "site cleanup", but even the sites were in good shape. By 1200 all the campers had left, we cleaned the bathhouse, did a little debris cleanup, and then enjoyed the weather again. High today was 66!

The find of the day was this little bag of tent stakes?

They are so flimsy that they might even be paperclips that were not totally bent.

The campground will be almost empty tonight and tomorrow will be easy. 
  

Winter Excursion 8, Day 75 The Life of a Camp Host

We went into town, had breakfast at a diner, hit the Wally World, and headed back to camp. It was a beautiful day and the campground is packed. We will feel that tomorrow as we are back on duty and almost everyone is leaving.

We hung around camp, relaxed and waited for the NFL games to start. We watched the Cowgirls get blown out by Green Bay!

After the early game I hit the sack, It will be busy tomorrow. Cath watched a little TV and then followed me to bed.

All is well in the Boss Camp!

Winter Excursion 8, Day 74 The Life of a Camp Host

We drove into Statesboro for a few groceries this morning. The weather is nice although the locals think it's too cold. We have even colder weather in the forecast.

Around noon we fired up the smoker to try a new recipe. Instead of smoking a brisket we found a way to smoke a chuck roast. The advantages are price, faster cooking, and smaller size. It actually turned out really nice. we will do it again.

After dinner we watched some football and then hit the hay.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 73 The Life of a Camp Host

With nothing planned for today we slept in till almost 0900!

After a little breakfast (brunch) we drove to Statesboro for a few supplies. On the way Cath got a pic of this "pine tree" (cell tower). It was not there last year and we wish it wasn't here this year. I know Georgia is not the Pine Tree State, but there sure are tons of them here, but none of them look like this!

Back at camp we had a few rain showers. We spent the late afternoon installing new ceiling lights in the camper. The nice thing about the new ones is that each one has its own switch. It is nice to be able to only turn on three or four of the nine lights in the ceiling. We also have them all on a dimmer.

Looks like the storms passed north of us this time around. I was not looking forward to another storm like the last one.
 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 72 The Life of a Camp Host

Although we do enjoy watching the birds at the feeder there is a down side. The birds often leave the feeder and crash into our camper windows on the slide out. I did a little searching and was was happy to find these anti-collision stickers that are designed to keep the birds from flying into the windows. We haven't had a bird strike since I put them on!

We did a little more cleanup from the storm, and the camp is looking normal now.

The find of the day was.......

I think I nailed it...LOL.

Got a nice evening pic of the camper and the sunset.

We are off for the next 3 days with no plans! We will see what the days bring.

Winter Excursion 8, Day 71 The Life of a Camp Host

Well I said I was glad we were off yesterday. I take that back. After the storm the campground was loaded with debris. Our co-host did a good job yesterday cleaning it up, but the rain didn't stop until almost dark.

We started with the sites the arriving campers are going to occupy today, there was only four. Then we started on the campground road. We blew that off with a hand blower.

Then we worked on the campsites that were not occupied, there was 16 of them.

During all of this we collected lots of down limbs, twigs, and cones.

The worst site had a good size pine limb fall and just miss the picnic table. Luckily there were no campers on that site. I needed maintenance to help clear that one off as my little electric chainsaw was not up to the task.

By late afternoon we were done and Cath got the laundry done to boot!

The find of the day was this ankle sock.

I sure hope the owner of the other sock managed to keep their toes warm and didn't perish in the floods yesterday!

It's been a long day. Dinner will be good tonight and bedtime even better!

Winter Excursion 8, Day 70 The Life of a Camp Host

We spent the entire day in the camper.

We started the morning with a forecast that promised severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. The storm was named "Finn" and it was a dozie! Reached from Florida to VIrginia and back into the midwest.

Rain started right after I got Kaylee outside around 0800. Once the rain started Kaylee went into our bedroom (her safe  place) and did not come out until early evening. I'm thinking she has an iron bladder.

We watched the Weather Channel and tracked the storm until it got close and we lost satellite signal. Our area went under warnings about 1300 and lasted till 1500. 

We had lots of rain and some wind, but for the most part we were OK. Some other areas in the South did not fare so well.

We played cards during the worst of the storm...Cath won!

We are back on duty tomorrow, glad it wasn't today!

Winter Excursion 8, Day 69 The Life of a Camp Host

We left camp around 1000 and drove to Waynesboro, GA to check out the Wagon Barn Market. It's a nice country market. It reminds us of the Mennonite Store back home. We picked up some deserts, the bakery is fabolous!  We also scored some country ham, snacks, and a T-shirt.

We will go back there again, We wanted to visit the Pineland Bakery, but it was closed today.

We drove back to camp via Swainsboro and stopped at Wally World for a few groceries and TSC for some propane.

We left camp again around 1600 and drove to Metter, GA. We went to Taqueria El Sol a really good Mexican Restaurant and stuffed ourselves.

Back at camp we watched a little TV and felt like we had just finished Thanksgiving Dinner.

It was a fun day off and sleep will come easy.

We are expecting some very bad weather tomorrow including high winds, thunderstorms, and possible tornadoes.  

Winter Excursion 8, Day 68 The Life of a Camp Host

We spent the morning cleaning sites and the bathhouse. By 1200 we were done, so that meant it was NFL time. We watched a few of the games and played some cribbage.

The find of the day was this handful of peanuts a camper left on their picnic table for the squirrels.

If you have been reading this blog for awhile you know how I feel about squirrels. So I took the peanuts and put them in the dumpster! 

In the evening around 1830 we noticed some headlights in the dump station. I drove over in the cart to investigate. Turns out one of our campers decided to leave early. We think that is the first time we've had a camper leave in the dark.

We are off for the next two days. We will see what kind of trouble we can get into.
  

Winter Excursion 8, Day 67 The Life of a Camp Host

Even though we have 16 campers in the park it was a slow day as far as camp duties. We had no campers leave and only one arrive, so there was no site cleaning.

We spent the day doing camp maintenance. I installed a new dimmer switch in the bathroom. We also put the finishing touches on the host cart tailgate and topped off the batteries. I  replaced a blinking LED light on the truck. For the most part we just hung out at our camp and talked to the campers as they walked by.

It was the warmest day we've had since arriving although the weather is forecast to cool off again tomorrow.

Cath made her famous sweet/sour meatloaf which I cooked on the green egg. It came out great as usual.

The find of the day was this candy cane.

I was a little upset as all the candy that was in it was gone!

Winter Excursion 8, Day 66 The Life of a Camp Host

We only had one camper leave, a dozen arrive. We have 15 campers in the campground.

The tailgate on the host cart was off when we arrived. Seems the hinges had rusted and were broken. I cut off the old hinges off (what was left of them) and got new hinges at the local hardware shop. With some help from maintenance we got the new hinges installed and with a little paint it almost looks new again. At least we won't have to worry about tools, ashes, and trash falling off the back. 

This morning when I went to the office to pick up slips for incoming campers the office manager gave us a bucket of fresh oysters in the shell. Guess what we had for dinner! I fired up the green egg and roasted them.

The find of the day was this Flag. I found it while cleaning a site. It must have fallen off the site pedestal. 

It now lives on our host cart.

All in all it was an easy day and we got to talk with almost all our campers.
 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 65 The Life of a Camp Host

Another day off so we were lazy again this morning. Finally left camp around 1100 and headed to Wally World in Swainsboro for some bird seed. We stopped at our favorite fried shrimp and french fry joint for lunch.

Back at camp we set up the bird feeder that we left here last year. It took the birds (and squirrels) about 10 minutes to find the treats. One of the first customers was this cardinal. I think he remembered us from last year.

We have one more night of freezing temps possible so I walked the campground and dripped the faucets and advised the campers to do the same.

Our Co-hosts took a ride on the cart and got a better pic of the Albino squirrel then we had last year.

We are working for the next three days. Campground will be busy, but not full. It will be another fun filled weekend!

 
 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 64 The Life of a Camp Host

Today was our first day off after two very busy days so we slept in this morning. Had a nice breakfast on the flattop, did a few camp chores and then headed out to the grocery store. On the way we stopped for gas at the local convenience store just outside the campground. Here's their sign. I couldn't agree more!

We drove to Statesboro and hit the Aldi and the Publix.

Back at camp we put everything away, relaxed, and watched some TV. Cath is making homemade New England Clam Chowder for dinner. Yum, Yum!

Five new campers showed up today so we have a grand total of seven in the campground. For our sake I hope it stays this slow. For the parks sake I hope it fills up again!
  

Winter Excursion 8, Day 63 The Life of a Camp Host

Today was a breeze compared to yesterday. We had three campers leave and one arrive for a grand total of two campers in the park!

We spent the day cleaning a few sites, the bathhouse, and helping maintenance with a water leak.

The find of the day was this tic-tac-toe board. I put it next to the penny so you could see the size. I think it is a midget tic-tac-toe board, but I'm not sure the last time we had midgets in the campground.

Freezing temps tonight so we are dripping all the faucets. This is our kind of weather!
  

Winter Excursion 8, Day 62 The Life of a Camp Host

Happy New Year!

Our first day as Hosts this year was a busy one. When we arrived yesterday the campground was full. Today 19 of the 23 campers left today! That meant we had 19 sites to clean. Talk about getting into the groove! My watch told me I had over 18,000 steps today. By 1530 we were done and beat.

The Find of the Day is certainly a fitting one. Not only is it New Year's Day, but also the first day as Host this year, so a penny should bring good luck for the New Year and for easy Hosting!

All is well in the Boss Camp!

 

Winter Excursion 8, Day 61

We got an early start and left Buck Hall at 0830 enroute to George L. Smith State Park in Twin City Georgia. We will be hosting here until 30 Apr 24.

We took the backroads through South Carolina and Georgia. As it is New Years Eve and a Sunday there was almost no traffic. The weather is perfect and it was a really nice drive.

We arrived at GLS around 1230 and spent the afternoon setting up. We did minimal set up as we are moving to the other host site in three weeks.

We met our new co-hosts, Jerry and Wanda. They have been working alone for the past two weeks and were happy to see us. The gave us a nice aloe vera plant as a welcome gift.

We start work tomorrow, 1 Jan 24 and the campground is full.

Here's a couple of pics of our site.

We are looking forward to getting back into the groove as campground hosts. As almost all the campers here are leaving tomorrow, I'm sure we will get in the groove really fast!