Winter Excursion 9, Day 126 The Life of a Camp Host

It's Friday and this is our first weekend off in awhile.

We left camp at 0900 and headed to Magnolia Springs State Park to visit some host friends and return the frog we borrowed last year for the FROG Rally this past July.

We had fun catching up and enjoyed swapping "host stories". These were the folks that got us started hosting.

From there we drove over to George L Smith State Park to see the "new" campground". The place sure looks different with most of the trees missing from the campground. The sites all look nice as they have been rebuilt. The campground just opened a few weeks ago. We said Hi to all the staff and they wanted us to return as hosts right now!

After GLS we headed home and stopped for dinner in Gray, GA not far from camp.

It's been a fun day with 300 miles of driving, but after a month with no days off it was nice.

 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 125 The Life of a Camp Host

It was just a little busy today. We spent the day doing laundry, making sure all the sites were ready for the weekend, and just doing general campground clean up. We are off for the weekend and plan to visit some host friends at other State Parks in southern Georgia.

After a nice dinner and a little TV I hit the sack around 2030. Cath woke me up a little after 2100 and said that a camper wanted me to check their hitch pin before she left! I got dressed and went over to her site. There was no issue with her hitch pin, it went right in! To say the least I was a little miffed and I'm sure she knew it. Back at our camper I fell asleep immediately.

The find of the day was this dirty old sponge.

It quickly found it's way to the dumpsters with all the other trash!
 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 124 The Life of a Camp Host

After a few days off we were on today. 

The weather has turned cold again and we had one heck of a storm when the front blew through early this morning. The NOAA Weather Radio started with the watches at 0200 and lasted until 0500. We never did get any warnings. At 0530 lightning hit really close. It was the loudest and longest thunder clap we've ever heard. I think it lasted so long due to the lake. By 0800 the sun was out, but the wind was bad all day.

The find of the day was this little guy.

The ladies at the kiosk told me that "everyone needs a little Jesus". He now lives in my host cart.

There is no bird of the day because the wind was so strong that the birds could not fly today.
 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 123 The Life of a Camp Host

We left camp this morning and drove to TSC to top off one of our propane tanks. The weather is turning a little cooler. We will be running the heater.

We had lunch and then stopped at our favorite butcher shop and got some pork chops. We are having our co-host over for dinner.

From there we took a drive around the lake our campground is on. It's a Georgia Power lake and there are no homes, other campgrounds, or any structures on the lake except for our campground. The roads around the lake are dirt. We did get a good pic of the power plant on the lake. 

The bird of the day is the Black Capped Chickadee.

The one hanging upside down is also a Black Capped Chickadee, but he's also an acrobat!

Winter Excursion 9, Day 122 The Life of a Camp Host

Today was our first full day off in a month. We slept late, took our time taking showers, and were basically lazy.

We finally left camp around 1100 and drove to Hight Falls State Park to visit our old camp host, Ed. He was getting ready to train some new hosts at his park, but said he had planned to visit us this evening. He also said he had to stop a Publix and pick up steak, potatoes, and asparagus so we could cook his dinner while he was visiting us! This was his pay back for all the times we fed him dinner in January...LOL. It was great to see him and we had a fun time catching up.

The bird of the day is the Chipping Sparrow.

There's actually two of them on the feeder.
 

Winter Excursion 9, Day 121 The Life of a Camp Host

We spent the day cleaning a boatload of sites. We had 20 campers leaving.
Our new co-host, Joe, shadowed me most of the day and he will be working tomorrow. We have the whole day off! Our new schedule will be 2 off, 2 on, 3 on and flip the next week. Basically every other weekend is a three "dayer".

The find of the day is once again our new co-host, Joe.

He spent the evening with us yakking.

The bird of the day is this little guy.

It's a Tufted Titmouse.

Winter Excursion 9, Day 120 The Life of a Camp Host

The campground remains full. We have a great group of campers this weekend. The bathhouses are not bad at all.

The best thing today is what we have been waiting for. A new co-host arrived! We got a call from our Assistant Manager with the news around 1600. I asked we he was arriving and she said "in about 2 hours". Sure enough he arrived around 2000 and we sat outside and yakked till almost 2200. He is an experienced host and has hosted for the last five years. After a month without a co-host we are looking forward to a few days off.

The find of the day was Joe, our new co-host. I don't have a pic.

The bird  of the day is an American Goldfinch.

Thanks Goodness he's an American!

Winter Excursion 9, Day 119 The Life of a Camp Host

The campground is 100% full, but it was not a busy day. We had all the sites and bathhouses  cleaned except for a handful we did this morning. We watched everyone arrive which is one of our favorite host things to do. The antics of some of the campers are a hoot!

The find of the day was this wooden cork.

I think it was used to plug a whiskey jug which I will need if we don't get a co-host soon!

The bird of the day was this woodpecker.

He hangs on the feeder for minutes at a time eating seeds the whole time!