We’ve settled into the Camp Host life. In return for our services, which generally are 4 hours per day for 5 days, we receive a free campsite, WITH electricity, water, and a sewer. At this camp they charge $25.00 per day for a campsite with NO utilities...dry camping. Now, that’s pretty expensive for a Forest Service campsite, but, the area is awesome to say the least. It’s $50.00 for a double site with NO senior discount. We’ll save about $750.00 on campsite fees this month, plus at least $3-$400.00 on gas since we’re not moving the motor home around. True, we are working 5 days at 4 hours per day, but this place is so amazing. It ends up we have plenty of time to go exploring and fish and hike. We have good connectivity so we can utilize the Internet to watch TV and Netflix.
One caveat so far has been that the other camp host here is out of commission. He fell off the roof of his wife’s trailer and broke several ribs and his hip. He’s hurt real bad. With Lenny the other host laid up we are now in charge of maintaining 4 campground loops plus 4 bathrooms and 2 shower rooms. Since the campground has not had many visitors yet ( it’s been colder than the typical winter so far ) the bathroom upkeep has not been too onerous, What we’ve been concentrating on so far has been landscaping. I have a weed whacker and some saws and a blower. Basically, I’ve kept the ground vegetation down in all the camp grounds. This is done by using the whacker as a lawn mower. Since it’s been a relatively wet winter the grounds are growing like crazy. It took me 12 hours total to get all the campsites and the perimeter of the grounds mowed down the first time. I’ve been trimming the trees as well. The camp ground has two basic tree types: Honey mesquite and Palo Verde. The Ranger here wants the trees to be trimmed so as to create a canopy effect. This involves a lot of trimming for yours truly. I hope to get all the trees in all the campgrounds trimmed by mid February when the campers should start picking up. Then, we’ll be able to focus mostly on litter pick up and bathroom maintenance. I don’t mind the physical labor at all. It helps me stay in some kind of shape. After traveling extensively the past two years, it’s a good time for us to stay put and save a little money. This should be a good year for that. Plus, the locations we’ll be hosting cannot be beat.
A disappointment for us this month has been the unexpected repairs we’ve needed to make on Nell, our motor home. Having just paid a lot for repairs back in Albuquerque we found they messed some things up. I had to do some pretty extensive work on the toilet which is just so much fun. The repair guy put the wrong wipers on my vehicle which caused one of the arms to break. The repair guy left the electric water heater on when he winterized the motor home which caused the heating element to burn out. Then, we almost burned down the motor home when one Friday morning I found all the ground wires in the breaker box melted. I THINK it was due to the space heater having a ground that malfunctioned. That...was scary.
When you consider that a motor home is bouncing down highways and all manner of county roads, some dirt, you have to know these complicated systems like your power supply are going to come unhinged at some point. It’s as if your home were going through a 6 or 7 magnitude earthquake earthquake every time you fire it up. Things are going to happen. If you are not mechanically inclined when you start out, you will become more so as you jangle down the highways of your new life. If you do not, it can get very expensive.
I’ve mentioned my new friend, Dusty Parsons a few times in these missives. Such a generous man. Without asking him, Dusty came to my rescue on these issues. Dusty gave me great advice on these challenges and jumped right in and helped me fix the problems, taking the lead on the repair work. I learned a lot during the episodes about mechanical repairs and even gained a little electrical experience. (probably enough to now be dangerous) But, what I received that I treasure the most is the feeling one gets when a friend helps another friend in times of trouble. To be on the receiving end of this help reminds me of what a friend is and should be.
Putting work and RV maintenance aside for a moment, I should mention the fishing here at Roosevelt Lake. It’s January. The water temperature has hovered around 53 degrees the past few weeks. That’s a little cold for bass fishing. Still, we have managed to catch bass the few times we’ve fished so far. The bass have all been 12’’ or larger, with more than half in the 2-3 lb range. This really bodes well for the future when the water temps warm. I keep hearing stories of how great the fishing is in this lake once it warms. One of the Rangers here is a bass guide on the side and he showed me picture after picture of him holding 9 to 13 lb bass. Lenny, the other host here who is laid up that I mentioned above, has caught several catfish in the 28-45 lb range. Anticipation is a great thing when it comes to fishing.
Hope, they say, springs eternal.