Another Day – Another Adventure – Weeks 15 & 16
Monday, August 14, 2017
Perry had to scoot out early to attend a hearing at the county courthouse that was about a situation in Statham. As a Councilman, these things were important to him.
Beth got busy & converted the camper from bedroom to living room & then did a quick clean up in the bathhouse. The Tent Walk-in Hosts were supposed to do those chores on our days off but, given the way the bathhouse they were responsible for was kept, we decided to just do ours ourselves. The rain was coming down heavy & Beth left camp at about 8:30am.
Back at the house, Beth did lots of soap business work, paid bills & made products. Then she went to lunch with her friends Tracie & Sandra, & together, the three found solutions to all the world’s ills.
Perry got home at about 3pm feeling pretty good about the court case. He had also gone back to camp to leave the key to the camp cart in the glove box so the Tent Walk-in Hosts could use it to do their assigned chores (clean firepits in their area & ours). The Park Manager said they could keep the cart in their area until Tuesday as we would be off until then. We could only hope the hosts would take care of the vehicle that had spent an ungodly amount of time in the shop over the last few months. We were skeptical because the blower they used ONCE since their arrival had been left out in heavy rain for two days & then wouldn’t work. One is expected to take care of camp equipment, after all. Not our monkeys, not our circus.
We went out to dinner at Cheddar’s in Athens & returned to camp pretty late. It was a very good day for us.
Tuesday, August 15, 2017
Beth freshened up the bathhouse while Perry washed dishes after breakfast & then we left camp for the day. The sun was out ALL day, perfect for our second day off.
Instead of doing chores or work in The Soap Studio, we literally kicked back & did nothing. This was highly unusual for us but it was needed. Naps on the couch.
Perry had a City Council meeting to attend at 7pm so we had a quick dinner at our favorite Mexican Restaurant in town beforehand. Beth went on back to camp to put groceries away she had gotten on the way back & then did some work on the blog.
Perry got back to camp at about 8:30pm. And we did notice that the park cart had not been returned. A possible problem for another day.
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
The camp cart was returned during the night with the key left in the ignition & the gas tank nearly empty. When Perry left the key in the dash under a cloth, he had checked to be sure it had a full tank. So, in a day & a half, under the care of the Tent Walk-in Hosts, as much gas was used as we would use in an entire week. Interesting.
We had breakfast & then filled the tank of the camp cart & took a spin around the campground. Two campers departed on Monday from our area & both left ash in their firepits. It was still there even though the Tent Walk-in Hosts were supposed to clean them out.
Since Wednesday & Thursday are their days off with us serving as back up for their duties, we decided to check their areas. It was VERY apparent that the bathhouse had not been cleaned since we did it the week before. One toilet had a broken flush handle, there was a rediculous amount of hair in the sink along with icky stuff on the mirrors & toilet, the floor was covered in trash & the deep garbage cans were overflowing. And, only one of the two rooms had a little toilet paper on a roll. Clean bathhouses make all the difference to a happy camper & this nastiness is a reflection on all of us.
We ventured into the tent campsites only to find the firepits were never cleaned. None of them. The Tent Walk-in Hosts are responsible for the lakesites, too, & not one firepit was cleaned out or campsite blown off even though the days they had the vehicle were completely sunny. Perry would usually just clean the firepits & blow off the sites without a word. However, the situation was so bad he called the Assistant Managager to come take a look herself. She was appreciative of Perry showing her the problems & said to leave the firepits as is. She did ask that we clean the bathhouse & have the toilet handle fixed by maintenance. Neglect of duties by some individuals should not make campers suffer.
Most of the time, parks get volunteer hosts that truly want to do the job. They are true volunteers. But then there are times when people “volunteer” simply to get a free campsite. We trust the Park Management to fix the problem or replace the hosts for the betterment of the park.
While Beth was cleaning the bathhouse in Campground #1, she noticed a car parked outside with the engine running but no one in the front seat. She assumed it was a man using the regular men’s room as she cleaned all three of the other bathrooms with no stray people inside. When Perry came by in the camp cart, Beth asked him to check the men’s room for her, as she had been waiting for the individual to finish in there for nearly an hour. No one was in the room so Perry checked the car. The man was asleep in his reclined drivers seat. The Park Management was called. Carol arrived & knocked on the window to wake the fella. He got out & she told him he had to buy a park pass to have access to the roads & facilities. He must have come into the park before 8am when the kiosk at the front gate was manned. The fella left & we didn’t see him again.
With our chores done, we went home for showers & to check on the cats. We had a late lunch at Blazers in Statham & then dessert at Savvy Cakes. Yum! Then we got the dogs & returned to camp. Perry made a quick trip to Publix for some steaks & a Lottery ticket. The pot is up over $400 million – what fun we could have with that prize!
Thursday, August 17, 2017
We did our usual morning chores & then descended on the Tent Walk-in area bathhouse to do some more cleaning. Hosts are tasked with the responsibility of making sure the facilities they are responsible for are in good working order & stocked with the needed supplies. The Tent Walk-in bathhouse had not been attended to properly since the current hosts arrived so we submitted work orders for a broken toilet handle, 6 of the 8 overhead lights needing be replaced, screens to be added & new electric hand dryers to replace the broken ones from what looks like the last century. That was not the bathhouse we were required to look after but the park does like to know when repairs are required & they had no idea of the problems. We think the toilet had been on the blink since we cleaned it the week before.
We both went home for lunch, showers & to see the cats. Beth gave Sugar & Spice a spiffy new haircut & Perry bathed them. He then returned to camp with the pups.
Beth paid some bills & made a deposit for her business to drop off at the bank on her way back to camp. Now, the ATM can be entertaining at times … she waited in the drive through as one car spent a good bit of time doing their business after hours. Right up on their bumper was another car, waiting their turn. Beth hung back a couple car lengths as financial transactions that could include money being dispensed can be concerning if someone is “in your space” in her opinion. When car one moved on, car two pulled up to the machine. Apparently, the driver had not taken the time during her wait to get her ATM card out as she was fumbling around in her purse for it & did not find it quickly. Then she rolled down her window & opened the door a crack in order to reach the machine buttons. That’s when she dropped said card. So she pushed her door open against the wall & squeezed out with a great deal of difficulty – good thing she was a skinny-minnie. Once her card was retrieved, she squeezed back in &, again, reached through the open window to scan her card. That was when she dropped said card the second time. The whole squeezing out & back in was performed but this time her friend got out from the passenger seat to come behind her car, not to help, just to watch & laugh. This time the driver was able to scan the card, press whatever buttons she needed to & the machine spit out cash. As she grabbed it, bills floated out of her hand onto the ground & under her car. Lots of screaming & squeezing out again & crawling under the car ensued. Meanwhile, Beth was cursing herself for not having her camera going. Imagine this on America’s Funniest Home Videos! Once all cash was retrieved & they pulled forward, Beth held back so the two girls could exit their car & inspect the ground for any bills that may have escaped. Finally able to pull forward Beth dropped her one second deposit into the box. All in all, the bank stop took a full 20 minutes. It was worth it for the entertainment factor.
Beth had a Planning Board Meeting to participate in at 7pm so Perry went with her. It was longer than usual & the Board Members were told the next month’s agenda would be nearly 3 times longer. Building construction was definitely picking up in Barrow County!
After the meeting we had a quick dinner at Smokin’ Po Boys in town. Good food, indeed. Then we returned to camp & had a ride about on the camp cart. Nearing the boat ramp, we spotted a small car turn towards the launch. We kept site of it as it disappeared heading down toward to water. That was not a boat launch going on but, instead, a driver attempting to hide. The driver didn’t realize he had been spotted & got out, walking toward the Yurts with a package in hand. Perry startled him when he asked where he was going. The guy was particularly loud, jolly & fast talking & said he was from Bethlehem but didn’t realize one could camp at the park. Not a believable story. We drove over to the overflow parking area & called the Park Ranger. Ted said he was on his way but we spotted the car in question speeding back up the road on his way out of the park. Gotta watch this stuff!
The rest of the night was quiet in the park. Bliss!
Friday, August 18, 2017
We are observers of life, first & foremost. The simplistic things amuse us so we just watch for things to transpire. A fella & his wife arrived from “the back hills of North Carolina” in their RV, which they set up in the site beside us. Do you remember Billy Ray Sirius & his mullet haircut? This guy must have liked the look a lot because he had a perfect duplication. The “party in the back” was a bit longer & he had a handlebar mustache & mutton chop sideburns to finish off the look. And he played a mean banjo, too. In contrast to what we would have imagined him to sound like, he talked like a well educated city dweller & his profession was as an EMT. His wife was a corrections officer. We love the people who camp. Honestly. The diversity is astounding &, many times, downright entertaining.
Friday in the park is rather busy. The bathhouse chores were completed & Perry made sure all open sites were cleaned & ready. Then the park filled up. Completely. Not an empty site to be found.
Robby & family came for dinner – steaks, potatoes, broccoli & salad – & we laughed at life’s fun adventures. When the younger Barton’s departed, we invited Ed & Judy & Daniel & Ramona (fellow hosts) over to sit in the gazebo & visit. Mr. Achy Breaky stopped by to say he was showering in the bathhouse when the auto timer light went out. He said it was the first time he’d ever had to traverse a large, public bathroom in his birthday suit to turn the light back on. Lawdy!
Life is so funny when you let it be.
Saturday, August 19, 2017
A beautiful day in camp was the name of the game. Lots of giggling kids & happy campers.
We did our chores & a whole lot of visiting with other campers. Firewood sales were at an all time high, probably because the Tent Walk-in Hosts were MIA the entire afternoon & evening. We were hoping the Park Management would become aware of the situation. Not our monkeys, not our circus.
We picked up a pork tenderloin at the store & Perry grilled that for dinner. Beth made fresh potato salad & baked beans, too. Ramona & Daniel came over for dinner & brought a LUSCIOUS dessert. Then we all sat out in the gazebo, enjoying each other’s company & conversation. Several campers stopped by for a quick chat & even Mr. Achey Breaky came by to serenade us with his banjo playing. It was a stellar night. This was why we will always love Camp Hosting!
Sunday, August 20, 2017
We had a leisurely morning … coffee in bed while we watched the news & then a great breakfast. Then we rode through the park to see the emptying campgrounds & watch the Canada Geese in the lake. There were a BUNCH of out of state college girls staying in the Camper Cabins – a tennis team – & they were groggily getting loaded into their school vans for the trip home. Lots of similar groups use the cabins at Ft Yargo. It’s affordable & safe.
At noon we drove around to all the campsites we are responsible for & cleaned out the firepits. We also talked to one couple who were interested in hosting in the future. It can be a wonderful volunteer opportunity. Perry then dropped Beth off at the bathhouse to clean it while he got the blower to tidy up the campsites.
Beth called Dustin in Maintenance to fix a hand soap dispenser that had come off the wall & to reinstall a toilet stall door handle that had come off. He knocked on the ADA women’s room, thinking that was the place the repairs were needed, & a woman said, “occupied!” Later, he answered his phone while outside that bathroom saying, “Hello?” The woman piped up, “What do you want now?” She was making them both laugh. Repairs completed, Dustin went on his way to solve more problems. We took another spin around on the camp cart to cool off. We noticed the sites the Tent Walk-in Hosts were responsible for had been blown off & the firepits were emptied. Seems the management had a word with them & provided some much needed coaching.
Beth went home for a shower & to pick up some supplies. Then Perry did the same.
We had a leisurely evening in camp & grilled a pork loin for dinner. Bliss.
Monday, August 21, 2017
It was our day off so we headed home early. Beth did some soap stuff while Perry visited City Hall about Council stuff. The rest of the day was for some “do-nothing” & we were good with that. We did go to Cheddars for dinner & got back to the park just before the gate closed. It was a great day.
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
We had our breakfast at camp & then went home for another day of relaxing. Beth had pretty much decided that she would hold off on doing her soap business until we returned home at the end of the month. She just couldn’t concentrate on it & most likely was going to screw something up. So we just chilled all day.
We returned to camp at dark & had a ride through in the car to see how things were going. Four new campers had set up in our area & the back-up hosts in Tent Walk-ins had failed to visit with them & issue temporary tags as required. The hosts had also failed to clean our bathhouse both days. And, they had unlocked the washer & dryer accesses to trigger free loads (this is one of the perks we have not used by choice) but left them wide open for anyone else that may want to wash for free. The park gets revenue through these machines so we told the Park Manager when she drove by. Unfortunately, she must not have talked to the hosts about it because the accesses were still open the next day. We closed the lids but they remained unlocked through the end of the month when we left. Not our monkeys & not our circus.
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
The Tent Walk-in Hosts “borrowed” the camp cart for our area during our days off so they could do their jobs. Unfortunately, they broke the ignition switch AGAIN, used an entire tank of gas AND did no job whatsoever. Our bathhouse needed some extra TLC to get it back in shape & the mess they left in the laundry room the day before was left for us to clean up. Then we went to their bathhouse to clean as that was our responsibility on their days off. The tall garbage cans in both rooms were overflowing, there was only a partial roll of toilet paper in one room & nothing in the other, just as it was the week before, & the sink, toilet & floors were a mess. They had obviously not touched the rooms since Sunday at least. One camper that had been there for several days said there had been NO toilet paper in one room since Sunday. Then we checked the firepits. The one firepit in our area in the site vacated on Monday had not been cleared & neither had the walk-in sites that had been vacated since Sunday. We decided to do our own but not theirs. Ridiculous!
Beth went home to shower & get mail orders out & Perry followed to do the same a while later. We returned to camp & had a quiet afternoon. We grilled & enjoyed a nice dinner & then sat in the gazebo to enjoy the breeze.
Thursday, August 24, 2017
It was more of the same in camp with a quick visit home for lunch & showers. Joe Goodman came by to pick up some products & found Beth scattering Borax & DE throughout the house – they are natural insect killers that pose no danger to animals & we wanted to be sure the house was insect free before we were to return home on the 31st. Beth figured a few days of having this stuff on the floors would be good as the cleaning ladies were due to come on Tuesday to clean it up. Meanwhile, it looked like a bomb went off & Joe got a good chuckle out of Perry’s remark about a séance almost being over as Beth finished her task.
The Camper Cabin Hosts, Ed & Judy had us over to their site for a delish dinner. Judy out did herself with a new recipe & two wonderful desserts. But the best part of the evening was being with them. They are pretty awesome folks.
We had taken the camp cart to their site & did a drive through the park on the way back to our site. We issued a few temporary tags to campers who had come in after hours. It appeared one had already gone to bed at 8pm as their lights were out so we left them until the next morning. They said, then, they had a really rough day of travel & fell asleep way early. All part of the experience.
Another day ….
Friday, August 25, 2017
We did our chores & toured the park a couple times. Then we went home to shower. Beth completed a couple more mail orders & made plans to do a couple special orders upon our return home full time. One was for mosquito spray for a wedding & the other was individual soaps for a wedding shower. Boy, is she going to be busy catching up with soap production, product restock, special orders & getting ALL of her retail locations stocked back up. YIKES!
Perry stayed in Statham to see who qualified for the City Council Election (ended at 4:30pm with 4 good candidates & 1 not so good – the odds are favorable). Beth did some grocery shopping in preparation for having Robby & family out for dinner.
We got everything prepared before the youngsters got to camp except the grilling of chicken filets. Those only took a few minutes & then we enjoyed a good meal, chatter & laughter with only a few interruptions from people buying firewood.
After Robby & family left, we drove around on the camp cart & issued temporary tags to people who arrived after the office closed. There seemed to be a large number of them. One interesting group from perhaps the wilds of West Virginia were in camp, hootin & hollerin. Perry had to do his 10pm walk-about to quiet them down but they were receptive & respectful.
Saturday, August 26, 2017
For some reason, our cable & internet reception had been acting sporadic over the last few days. No TV reception to watch the morning news. Because of that, Beth was freed to write her blog & get caught up. So there was that. Breakfast & chores completed, we ran home for a shower & to feed the cats. The mess made from spreading Borax & DE around the house was a pretty frightening site. We decided we would have to make a stab of cleaning it up before the cleaning ladies come, least they quit on us.
Back at camp we prepared dinner with Lily in mind. Her parents dropped her off to spend the night so they could go out with friends. There was a big family in the Tent Walk-in area that moved down from New York. Their plan was to move in with relatives but there was a glitch with the house closing so they were stuck with little money & no where to go. It wasn’t much but we made them a big pan of mac & cheese when we made a little dish for Lily’s dinner. They were very appreciative. A church group had also been made aware of their circumstances & was stepping up to help.
Lily & Beth painted rocks & we roasted S’moores by the fire. Then we converted Wilbur into a bedroom. Lily & Beth climbed into bed for their “talk” while Perry took the pups for a walk. Beth told about the time Robby broke his thumb while playing touch football at the Baptist Church. He ran home nearly in tears. It was swelling fast but Beth made him take a shower before we left for the ER because he was so dirty & smelly. Not one of her best “Mom Moments”, however, he survived. Lily giggled.
Sunday, August 27, 2017
It was sweet to wake with a smiling little girl looking right into Beth’s eyes. The two had a giggle fest until Perry finally woke up on the other bed. Then we all scrunched up in the big bed, had coffee & hot chocolate & watched the news.
Breakfast was leisurely & the conversation was happy. Lily & Perry settled in to watch “Frozen” yet again while Beth cleaned up & then put the clear coat on the rocks. We recently saw an article from the State Park System asking that no painted rocks be hidden in the parks – they want to keep them as natural as possible. So, we planned to take these rocks back to Statham to hide the next time Lily comes to spend the night.
Lisa came to get the girl at noon. We had a quick lunch & then started our chores. Most of the full camp had emptied so we had LOTS of campsites to clear. Almost every firepit had been used which meant we had to make three trips to the ash dump. Then we got to work on the bathhouse. Since we would be leaving on Thursday, we made sure we did a deep clean … bleach sprayed on shower curtains to make sure all mold was gone, sinks scrubbed with Comet & floors mopped thoroughly. It took some extra time but all was squeaky clean.
We went home to clean up the dirt. The vacuum cleaner was not picking up at all so we spent two hours sweeping. That stirred up the dust in a big way & left every surface in the house coated with the fine gray mess. Not good or recommended & we will not EVER do it again. But the spiders & other bugs were effectively killed so there’s that.
We had showers & stopped at Cheddar’s for dinner. The dogs had been left at the campground because we sure didn’t want them in the mess at the house.
We had a run around the park on the camp cart to be sure all the campers had tags & then went by the Camper Cabins Host Site to swap carts with them. Ours worked the best (even with the broken starter button) & had a roof where their’s was challenging & open to the elements. We would be leaving soon so we decided they needed & deserved the better cart as they go over & beyond to do a good job.
Back at our campsite, we sat out at the gazebo for awhile & enjoyed the cooler air & peacefulness of the park.