Camphost Life

It was the busiest weekend we've had so far this winter here at Otter Springs. We had several check-ins, a few in the primitive area and a group of boy scouts. It was also the busiest weekend for use of the bath houses :-). We actually had to clean bath houses that looked they were being used, not already clean ones. Nothing major, but definitely used.

We're also acquiring a new skill set....splitting wood. There's a huge pile of wood out at the maintenance garage, from dead trees and limbs across the property. One of our tasks is to split and bundle firewood for the office to sell. So we've set as one of our missions to split the whole pile and have it neatly corded, and to have the woodshed by the office filled with bundled firewood before we leave in April. Hey, everyone needs a mission, right?

I don't know if I mentioned it, but the campground is pretty far away from any shopping. I know far away is a relative thing, especially when you get out west, but it's about a 15 minute drive from here to get a pizza...not a necessity for most folks, but we all have our vices. In these high fuel price times ($3.95 for diesel last week) it's not feasible to drive a half hour round-trip for pizza. So, we've been experimenting with making our own. Now, I've had a terrible time with baking in my rv oven...roasting is ok, but baking hasn't been going so well. I've been told that a pizza stone placed  on the shelf in the oven would help even out the heat for baking, so I've been looking for one that would fit. Finally, today, I think it happened....we received a phone call from Patti and Ginny, who were at the flea market in Homosassa, that they found a 13" stone that will fit. Great! Now we can try a pizza next week and hopefully not have a burned crust :-). If that works, on to cookies :-).

We're having quite a bit of rain today. It's needed very badly, but it's not so good for the Daytona 500 today. We'll see if it gets going, but things are not looking very promising.

I took a couple of pictures down at the springs yesterday. The bird is a limpkin, found only in Florida in the United States. They are known as the "wailing" or "crying" bird because of their loud, mournful call, usually issued at night by territorial males. Florida has placed them on their list of "special concern" due to loss of habitat.

Don't forget, you can click on a picture to make it larger for viewing :-).

Also saw some turtles sunning themselves. Which reminds me, when we were cleaning around 

the campsites today, we found a complete, empty turtle shell...like the inhabitant had just crawled out and left the shell behind. It was very strange, but I don't know much about turtles...how would that have happened?

Well, it's time to go make some pizza :-), and get ready to watch "The Amazing Race" tonight...love that show! 

Work News

Not very much happened yesterday. Just our normal routine of work here at our volunteer job at Otter Springs Campground. This weekend will be the busiest we've had since we arrived...quite a few arrivals coming so we had plenty of site checks to do. This consists of making sure each site has a table and firepit, and that the firepits are cleaned out. It has also been very windy, and a lot of the trees have been shedding dead branches and palm fronds. So we spent the afternoon moving the debris out of the campground and over to the burn pile.

We are officially returning to Amazon in October. Our personnel manager Kelly had called on Wednesday to re-interview us, and has sent the paperwork we need. It's interesting, in the interview this year they must read you the physical requirements of the job and you must answer a series of questions relating to these requirements. We suspect that is because last year the paper was among the job proposal paperwork that they sent us, but based on many people's attitudes towards the job once we got there, they must not have  read this sheet, or at the very least, didn't believe it :-). The most wearing part of the job is standing on your feet for the entire shift, but if you're reasonably healthy and in decent shape, most folks will survive. It's not forever, only a few weeks and then you're done. There's always light at the end of the tunnel :-).

Our other job news is about Colorado. Joan, the owner of Chalk Creek Campground, called yesterday and gave us the news that they have sold the campgound. Now, we didn't know that it had been up for sale, and there was a brief moment of concern, but she was calling to assure us that the new owners were wonderful people, leaving everything exactly the way it is, and were honoring the work contracts in place, and looking forward to having us come in for the summer. Whew! I thought for a few minutes there that I would have to go on the job hunt again! We also were able to speak with the new owner, Tamara, and she did sound happy to hear from us and glad we were coming in for the summer. So we are still on track for departure from Florida right after Easter, westerward-ho.

That's about it for today. I'm trying to write more frequently again, but the reports will most likely be a bit shorter :-). That's probably good news for readers :-). Have a great day!

Visits and Volunteers

We had a good couple of days while down in Homosassa this week. Most of our "stuff" is unpacked and out of boxes. We must remember to give the recycling collector a nice tip this Christmas! It's all organized, and mostly set in place. Just the little decorative stuff, and collectibles, that we kept that need to be cleaned and put away in the cabinets. It was so strange, going through everything we packed up. Some things we looked at and said to ourselves, why did we keep this? Other things were true unexpected finds....like a set of dishes we had received as a wedding gift 31 years ago, and had never used...brand new dishes now! Al's mom and sister love the house, and will be very happy living here year round, as will we in the winter months. I have to remember to take some pictures and post them.

Wednesday I had many errands to run with my mom, so we set out early to get those done. I did bring her back to the house for lunch, as we had friends from New York visiting us. It's wonderful to see folks that you haven't seen in quite awhile, and Missy and Ricky were no exception. Ricky has family in the area as well, and they have been looking to buy a house down here as well. This week turned out to be the week :-). They contracted on a house right there in Sugarmill, about 5 minutes drive from us. We're so happy for them. We had a nice lunch, and it was wonderful to relax around the pool on the lanai, chatting with good friends. Late in the afternoon, we had our first good storm of the season, thunder, lightning and torrential rains....this has been the first real good rain since we've arrived at Christmas. It is needed badly down here.

Thursday we embarked upon a new adventure...becoming volunteers at the Ellie Schiller Homosassa Springs Wildlife Park. This does not bring us an RV site, as there is no campground at this park. It does bring satisfaction in helping a wonderful attraction stay open. It depends on volunteers very much to help in all facets of park operation, and they just ask for a minimum of four hours a week per volunteer. This week we attended volunteer orientation, where we learned a bit about the park and were taken on a tour of all the facilities and shown the various jobs that they are looking to fill. Next week we will start training for these jobs. Al is starting as a boat driver....they have boats that ferry passengers from the Highway 19 entrance to the main entrance of the park on Fishbowl Drive, about a 15 minute ride down the Homosassa River. He will also have an informative talk to give while ferrying the guests along, so he is going to have to learn that :-). I have chosen to start as an interpretive cart host. These are carts that are set up with information and exhibits relating to several different animals in the park. These carts are set up on the boardwalks at the individual animal habitats, and we are there to talk about the animals and answer questions. It sounds very interesting to me, and a neat way to learn about the animals and also to interact with them and the guests. As I learn more about the park, next year I may move onto a "park host", who walks around the park and interacts with guests and answering questions. I think it will be fun, and give us new experiences.

Thursday afternoon we headed back north to Otter Springs, but made a detour over to Rainbow Springs State Park Campground. We had received an email from folks we met at the RV Dreams rally in April, Nancy and Neil Savage. They were staying at Rainbow Springs and invited us to stop by for a nice chat and dinner. This is one of the nicest parts of the RV lifestyle, is the great people you meet and become friends with that you most likely would have never met at all! We had a lovely time, and the talk just never stopped. I was so glad to hear that their plans for getting out here on the road are coming together, although more slowly than they would have liked. But that goes for most of us, doesn't it. Again, like us, they have to find the best way to work things out for themselves, as each couple has different circumstances and responsibilities. The important thing is to not give up, get out there and follow your dreams as best you can. It was so great to meet up with them, we so appreciate the time people spend keeping up with our travels, and knowing that my love of this beautiful park, and writing about it, has brought the same love to it from more folks. If anyone ever has questions about anywhere we've been, or places we've worked, don't hesitate to write to me, or comment; I love hearing from you and will be happy to elaborate on anything.

Thanks for all the comments and support out there. We are back in Otter Springs this weekend for our work "week", some stormy weather is supposedly on tap, but I'll try to get out and take some pictures to liven things up. have a great day out there!