We've been campground hosts for less than a week now. While we like the idea of a free campsite with electricity and water, there are parts of the campground hosting we definitely don't like.
Last night, we heard from a camper that there was a party going on at the pavilion that is near the boat landing. Gary went down to investigate in his big van and found out that there was a teenage beer party just getting started. He has lights all over the van and sat there for a while. Then he circled around the area once more and waited as the kids skedaddled. That van is very imposing and they had no idea who he was. Later we were told by the forest service that we had no right to interfere.
The problem for us as hosts is that something like that is very disturbing to the people who camp there, but the forest service says it is not our business. That part of the park where the pavilion sits is not considered to be part of the campground which is run by the separate service that hired us. Theoretically, the forest service should lock the pavilion each night, but in fact they do not. We could call the county sheriff if glass starts breaking, apparently.
Then there are campers who never pay. There are some who come in late at night and leave early in the morning to avoid the fees, which are incredibly cheap. We have no way of knowing for sure who is paying and who isn't, yet we know that the people who employed us are losing money.
There was the fellow who didn't think he should pay because the bathrooms were filthy though we checked and cleaned them twice a day. He also thought there should be paper towels but that's impossible because campers keep throwing them in the toilets clogging up the works.
Don't even get me started on those people who can't seem to get toilet paper from their bottoms to the toilet bowls.
One woman complained this morning that we were closing the park on the 30th while Lake Gogebic stays open another month. We hosts have no control over the closing of a national forest campground. Lake Gogebic is a state campground with a different administration.
I have long made it a rule that no matter how much money a project or job pays, if the aggravation is too much, the money is not worth it. I sat on the city council for one term and that was enough. One week of being a campground host was enough, too.
So it's back to Plan A, finding a good place to live somewhere in the north woods, a place we can live out our retirement years. We'll still camp, but without being in charge.
Who needs the aggro?
Last night, we heard from a camper that there was a party going on at the pavilion that is near the boat landing. Gary went down to investigate in his big van and found out that there was a teenage beer party just getting started. He has lights all over the van and sat there for a while. Then he circled around the area once more and waited as the kids skedaddled. That van is very imposing and they had no idea who he was. Later we were told by the forest service that we had no right to interfere.
The problem for us as hosts is that something like that is very disturbing to the people who camp there, but the forest service says it is not our business. That part of the park where the pavilion sits is not considered to be part of the campground which is run by the separate service that hired us. Theoretically, the forest service should lock the pavilion each night, but in fact they do not. We could call the county sheriff if glass starts breaking, apparently.
Then there are campers who never pay. There are some who come in late at night and leave early in the morning to avoid the fees, which are incredibly cheap. We have no way of knowing for sure who is paying and who isn't, yet we know that the people who employed us are losing money.
There was the fellow who didn't think he should pay because the bathrooms were filthy though we checked and cleaned them twice a day. He also thought there should be paper towels but that's impossible because campers keep throwing them in the toilets clogging up the works.
Don't even get me started on those people who can't seem to get toilet paper from their bottoms to the toilet bowls.
One woman complained this morning that we were closing the park on the 30th while Lake Gogebic stays open another month. We hosts have no control over the closing of a national forest campground. Lake Gogebic is a state campground with a different administration.
I have long made it a rule that no matter how much money a project or job pays, if the aggravation is too much, the money is not worth it. I sat on the city council for one term and that was enough. One week of being a campground host was enough, too.
So it's back to Plan A, finding a good place to live somewhere in the north woods, a place we can live out our retirement years. We'll still camp, but without being in charge.
Who needs the aggro?
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