Week 4 of Camp Hosting, Drama in the Park

A strange week in the park

Guys standing on end of pier

So you think everything’s going fine.  Mid morning our first of many 4 and 5k runners did their thing through the park.  Well only a few were running.  The majority of the crowd appeared to quickly run out of steam and many decided to go at a more leisurely walk through the park.  I waved at the crowd and gave encouragement as I worked on my truck installing new side rails on the truck and re-gluing a small antenna on the roof that came loose again. That darn little antenna was never secured properly since I originally purchased the truck.  Loose, it sounded like someone was thumping on the roof of the truck when I got any speed up on the highway.

I have a good friend I hadn’t seen in years come out to the campground for a visit in the afternoon.  Peter and I were in high school together and ended up in Orlando at the same time in life.  We had a great talk learning about each others lives over the years, talked about mutual friends, went on a hike along the lake, all the while mayhem was going on in the front of the park.

Peter finally headed on out late afternoon and with so many wireless devices, it took me a while to finally check my smart phone for messages.  The front office in the park had left a message asking me to check on a camper who has had health issues and just wanted someone to check on him the next morning.  I stopped by his campsite and reassured him I would check on him in the morning.  He let me know he was feeling better and thanked me for stopping by.  When I contacted the front office to let them know I’d checked in with the camper with health issues and Jennie filled me in a bit more on the guy and then said, "by the way did I want to know about all the commotion and drama that was going on up front? "

Well yes, fill me in.  

Seems Victoria, one of our gals who works up in the front office had gone out to pick up lunch and as she was passing the fire station about a mile and a half from the park, a young man jumped out in front of her car, trying to commit suicide.  Vickie ran over him, breaking his leg.  Needless to say she was a basket case.  Thinking she’d killed him.  Fortunately,  being in front of the fire station, help was on the way within a minute.  Vickie called back to Moss Park in hysterics.  She is of that temperament and her husband was called to come get her and take her home.

Meanwhile,  at the front office, the manager of the park had just driven into the park and said some young kid tried to run in front of his vehicle.  Same 18 year old kid obviously who had been running away from his parents on foot.  They by the way were camping in the park.  A relative comes into the front office about that time and asking about the son who is missing just as the police drive up.

Could it get any more complicated?  Jeanie, the other office gal tells the police and the relative that hay, it was probably their young man that just got run over by one of the parks staff members.  Ekk.  Well, maybe that wasn’t the best way to put it.  with the police taking all this in, the relative now in perplexed disbelief, the story was quickly sorted out as to what had just occurred a short distance outside of the park.

Kid runs away from parents.  Starts walking back into town along Moss Park Road.  Jumps out in front of a couple vehicles hoping to get wiped out.  Succeeds in getting run over and breaking a leg and is taken to a hospital.

A few days later, Vickie tells me she is having constant thoughts about the accident and can visually and physically feel her car running over the young man.  Feeling the bump as she ran over his legs.  Seeing him jump at her vehicle as she was attempting to swerve away from hitting him.  Seeing him bounce off the front of her car.  Hard to forget.  She has already forgiven him and is praying for him daily but can’t get beyond the “why did this happen to me” phase.  She’s going to see a therapist to help her work through it all.

So as I walk around the park this evening checking for noisy campers and or illegal drinking, I’m hoping things will remain calm inside the park and the campground in particular.  I’m pretty sure the parents with a lot of kids at one of the campsites are drinking beer.  I heard one of the guys say as I walk up, do you want a beer to the other guy grilling on the BBQ and then seeing me, quickly hide what sure looked like a beer can.  So of course I question the use of any alcohol and the guy at the grill acts indignant that I would even ask such a question.  With a cautionary note to the campers I decide to let it go and will check them out a bit later in the evening.  A light rain starts to come down as it has off and on all day long and I hope it will continue to rain into the evening as that will definitely put a damper on any outdoor campfire drinking and loud partying.  Seems like I’m wishing for rainy weekends more and more.

A few more checks throughout the evening.  I don’t see anything obvious and the campers are all quiet, except for a couple of the younger kids at the questionable campsite.  They are in the process of breaking off live tree branches to hit each other with.  The parents, as I’ve seen all too often, are ignoring the kids and the damage they are doing to the parks and campgrounds they so enjoy visiting.  I could have stopped and said something, but the damage had already been done.  I’m a bit perturbed to say the least.  I’m starting to see the uglier side of some of the campers and am not sure I like it.

In the morning the family packs up early and leaves.  Another weekend is coming to a close and the park will quickly empty out leaving the campground to the few campers like myself who enjoy a quiet park, seeing the wildlife wander through the park as the day gradually warms up.  It’ll be another day in the low 80’s, some cloud cover, maybe a quick shower will pass on through.  Ahh, the park is mine again to fully enjoy.

And yes I have been visiting with friends in the area, Ruth Hall for an outing in Winter Park and a visit with a former co-worker Larry Beasley and his new wife Marta.  Nice to be able to visit with Orlando friends on a leisurely basis.

The Morse Museum has the largest collection of Tiffany Glass in the world

Expensive new homes right off the Avenue, Winter Park Fl

Winter Park

Pictures of Larry and his wife Marta

this is a couple weeks before Thanksgiving

Marta is addicted to shopping

Larry built the front porch 

Larry the painter

Marta with all their talking Christmas dolls

2nd and 3rd weeks Camp Host Update

Camp Host follow-up

Well things are going rather well here.  I’m not on any particular schedule, though they do expect me to be in the campground on weekends to “control” the crowds.  In Florida and Moss Park especially, the winter months are their busy season and the park is expected to get quite full.

My duties are minimal which is fine with me.  I do a compliance check twice a day, most days, pick up trash that our rascal raccoons have a tendency to scatter around.  Most of the campers are very neat and leave their campsites quite clean.

I mentioned to the park manager the other day about how I’ve handled a few potential noisy groups by checking in with them during the day and giving gentle reminders that we do have a quiet hours beginning at 10 pm.  That has worked out real well.  The park manager told me the previous camp host, George, was really strict  about enforcing all the rules, including harassing the guests hours before check out time and reminding them they had to be out by 2 pm.  Seems we are on the same page when it comes to treating the campers with respect along with the occasional reminders about safety and a couple basic camping rules.

I’ve moved over to another campsite that should be a bit easier to get in and out of as I will need to haul my camper over to the dump station about every two weeks or so.  The site has the advantage of having lots of afternoon shade as well with a very large spreading oak tree on the patio side.  The branches can spread out to 100 feet.

On my second weekend, I took my walk around the campsites later in the evening, I did not notice too much in the way of noise makers.  I did have an inkling that a younger group might be a problem, but since they hadn’t gotten too rowdy by 10pm, I closed up and went to sleep.

The next morning as I was doing my rounds, I was stopped by a neighbor of the two campsites that had apparently made quite a night of it.  The poor neighbors had to endure of night of loud noise, partying, drinking (which is prohibited in the park) and a young couple having sex in their car while a young child cried on into the night.  Since the infractions had already occurred, I went to the front and turned over the problem to a couple of the paid staff, who went down, woke up the offending kids and made them leave on the spot.  I did tell the family that was next door, it was their first time camping, that they should camp next to the camp-host the next time they come out.  I assured them they wouldn’t have any problem with noise if they were close to the camp-host.

That problem solved, I’ve become a bit wiser on what to look for and perhaps I can nip it in the bud the next time around.

The park hosts numerous 5k runs in the fall and winter which I’ll get to see in the next week or so.  4 are scheduled in Nov-Dec with more in the new year as well.

The following evening with a light drizzle of rain coming down, I can see many campers still have their campfires going, while they sit under their awnings.  A few brave ones, sit next to their campfires.  With the rain, I don’t have to worry about any rowdy campers as the rain seems to have added a natural “damper” on things.  Or so I thought.  Later in the evening, around midnight, the weather having cleared up, I heard some loud talking, laughter.  Got dressed and headed out.  About 6 sites down from my camper, a half dozen adults around a campfire, string lights around their campsite lighting up the whole area, they were really getting down with it, as the saying goes.  I walked over with my bright LED flashlight and asked the group to quiet it down since it was well past 10pm quiet time.  They all assured me they would be quiet and I next asked if any of them had been drinking.  “Ohhh no sir, we haven’t been drinking.”  I asked again, were they sure no one had been drinking. Once again I was assured they weren’t drinking.  As I walked around their picnic table, there in the center was a large bottle of vodka.  I turned around and said, “well, I guess we need to revisit this issue” and basically gave them the riot act.  Either I confiscate the booze, or I call the police, it was their choice.

Booze all collected, I lugged it to the sink behind the bathhouse and dumped it all out.  Lots of booze.  Three large bottles of vodka, about two dozen cans of beer and mixed drinks, all down the drain.  Never thought I’d be on this end of  enforcing a ban on liquor at a campground.  Having had my share of drinking days in the past and many a happy hour around a campfire, it felt rather odd.  Especially when I dumped all that booze down the sink smelling the heady aroma of beer, margaritas, and vodka as it poured down the drain.  We would normally have the campers dump the booze right at their campsite but with so much of it, I though it was environmentally best to dump it down a sink drain instead of onto the ground.  Who knows, if we had done that, would the wild hogs or raccoons come by and get drunk on it?

It appears this part of my work camp job will need a bit of tweaking on my part, but I think I’m almost there and hope to be able to curb any excess drinking by weekend campers earlier in the evening.

All this amid a stunning forest filled with wildlife galore.  Sand hill cranes stopping by each campsite a couple times a day.  A heard of deer traveling through the camping area morning and mid to late afternoon, the occasional land turtle lumbering along and some laying their eggs this time of year.  Park personnel running around trying to re-locate the mama turtles a bit further away from in the center of a campsite before they drop all their eggs.    Crows flying around in groups like a black shiny vigilantly gang, a hawk swooping low looking for prey and owls hooting late into the night.

Luke and Brooke

Now the best part about being here at Moss Park is that I get to invite friends and family out to enjoy a day in the park with me.  That being the case, my sister Dorothy is down here on a visit from Lower Michigan, her daughter Kelly and husband Rusty along with the kids Lucas and Brooke came out for a visit.  I prepared a new dish called “skillet ravioli lasagna” that was so easy to make and tasted really awesome.  Everyone enjoyed this 30 minute meal.  Along with French bread and a salad you couldn’t ask for a better meal.  We then went on a hike along Bear  Lake Trail, through a stand of sago palms, live oak and slash pines.   The trail was covered with pine needles and felt wonderful to walk on.  Luke did all the reading of the placards and did very well I might add. A black snake slithers on by.  We continued with a tour of the family and group campsites and then on to the playground for the kids.  Lots of good conversation, topped off with a visit to the boat ramp to look out at the choppy lake on a windy afternoon and that pretty much fill the day.

Luke

exploring Bear Lake Trail

Dorothy, Kelly, Rusty, and the kids

Ravioli Skillet Lasagna

ingredients
2  cups  purchased pasta sauce
1/3  cup  water
1 9  ounce package  refrigerated or frozen cheese- or meat-filled ravioli
1 15  ounce carton  ricotta cheese
1/4  cup  grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
1 egg
1 10  ounce package  frozen chopped spinach, thawed and well drained
 Grated Romano or Parmesan cheese

directions
1. In a 10-inch skillet combine pasta sauce and the water. Bring to boiling; stir in ravioli. Reduce heat. Cook, covered, over medium heat about 5 minutes or until ravioli are nearly tender, stirring once to prevent sticking.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl stir ricotta cheese, and the 1/4 cup Romano cheese and one egg for binding.
3. Top ravioli with spinach. Spoon ricotta mixture on top of spinach and spread evenly. Cook, covered, over low heat about 10 minutes or until ricotta layer is set and ravioli are tender. Sprinkle each serving with additional Romano cheese. Makes 4 main-dish servings.

I also got out with my Sister Dorothy and we checked out her possible new home down in St Cloud.  It’s a “short sale”  which I don’t know a thing about, but we’re hoping she will get the house.  Because the bank has to approve the sale, it could take months before she knows whether she has the home or not. The neighborhood an older established part of St Cloud and has a wide boulevard with a winding paved path down the center which was once a canal since filled in.  All the homes on the street are well maintained with nice neighbors.  It’s a small two bedroom house with a really large yard, with all the grass that comes with it.

Could this be Dorothy's new Florida home?

So that’s about how my second week and a little more went at Moss Park as camp host.

1st week as a Camp Host

A Bonus Report.

Camp Host position at Moss Park.

Imagine my first day driving back into Orlando where I lived for over 35 years.  Arriving via the Florida Turnpike and as well as a few more toll roads like the “Beach Line”, used to be called the Bee Line, before getting to my winter destination, Moss Park.

Front entrance to park, office

I still consider Florida my adopted home.  The gals up front at the park entrance were waiting for me and knew I was the new camp host even before I got to the gate.  A welcome sign posted in the window.  Big welcomes, quick introductions and then I drove back to the campground as it winds through a stand of scrub pines, spreading oak trees and palms.  The road is white fine hard packed sand that at night glows with the light of the moon.  I know because my first night in the campground, the electricity went out around 6:30 in the evening and didn’t come back on until about one-o-clock in the morning.  When it’s pitch black inside and very warm, just looking outside into what I expected to be an ink black night as well, I instead saw a bright white roadway against a black backdrop of ghoulish looking trees.  The white sugar sand actually glowing from a bright clear moon.  We have no street lights in the camping area to ruin the effect of being in the woods.

So went my first night at Moss Park.

my current camp host site, I may move over one or two sites

After meeting everyone the next day and getting a tour of all the restrooms, with keys to all the supply rooms and explanations as to which key unlocked which toilet paper holder, supply door, soap dispenser et-all,  I was duly indoctrinated into camp hosting one-oh-one.

Eric the park manager assured me that I would be most helpful in monitoring the weekend campers and ensuring that the rowdy ones settled down after the 10pm quite hour.  He hasn’t had a weekend off in months and I am to be his weekend backup, including having the authority to call the local police if any of the campers remain too rowdy from drinking and partying etc.  I hope I’m able to convince any rowdies too ease up, lower their voices and chill out without having to call in the big guns.

It appears I’ll only have light clean-up duty in the bathrooms especially on weekends and will also pick up any trash left behind.  This park is immaculate and I could only find two small cellophane wrappers on my first walk around the campsites today.  The staff they have on board is definitely what they call a well oiled machine.

originally built about 12 years ago the two main
 restrooms/ bath houses cost a million dollars

I understand for about 5 days before Christmas they will be putting on a light show at night in the front of the park and I’ve been asked to assist.  Can’t wait to see what they’ll come up with.  I did see them putting lots of lights on an old aluminum boat out back, so we’ll have to wait and see what other surprises they have in store, I’m sure it will be pretty cool.

I was informed that the Orange Country parks would be closed for two days over the Christmas holiday and  would I have someplace to stay for those two days, as they would like even the camp hosts out of the parks. Not sure how that will play out, but I doubt they would actually force me off the property now that I’m here.  Well, we’ll have to wait and see.  It does sound a bit strange to me.

So, what are my duties as a camp host for this season?

1.  Be a presence in the campground area.
2.  Help out any campers who may have questions about locating a Laundromat, grocery store, emergency medical care, etc.
3.  Spot clean the restrooms if needed since the regular cleaning is done by paid staff.
4.  Pick up any trash as I make my rounds.
5.  Enforce basic camping rules, especially quiet hours.
6.  Verify campsite tags and remove expired tags after campers have left.

broken board on boat ramp

I’ve already identified a broken board along the boardwalk that needs repair and reported it.  Utilizing my safety skills training from my Navy job from years past.  Helping to keep all those happy campers safe to enjoy a great campout at Moss Park.

Today I noticed a large tank/pressure washer at the restrooms near my campsite.  It had been backed up to the entrance to the restrooms and a worker was power washing the restrooms.  Now that’s the way to clean a restroom.
 
I dropped by the front office on my third day here and was told more about what they expected of me.

I had been handed a small clipboard the other day and was told that the previous camp host used it but I didn’t have too.  Ohkkkkay.  No explanation of what it was or how it was used in the past.

So I took it, looked it over and realized is was a check off list of who was on each campsite.  Later in the day I had a meeting with the park manager again as he told me he wanted to go over a few things with me.  Well that never really happened as he didn’t have anything for me, but I had a few questions for him. You know I would now didn’t you.  One of them was that check off list regarding campsites.  I asked him if he wanted me to do anything with it and he said, not really.  Ok, I said if it was just busy work and didn’t need to be done, I wouldn’t waste my time on it.

Ok so now you have the background.  Come to find out the front office does like to have the camp host check on sites periodically to see who’s on each site and does the site have a tag on the post if occupied.  You see, some campers sign up up front and then go pick out a site.  If they don’t check back with the front office, the front office has no idea which site they’ve taken.  Which of course can be a problem if someone calls to make a reservation and the office doesn’t know what sites are open or filled.

It was apparent that a periodic check of campsites was in order especially on weekends.  Though, a quick call to me at my campsite and I can go check any site in question as well.  Which I’ve had the opportunity to do today a couple of times.  So with that cleared up, I’ll be doing regular “compliancy” checks.  That’s what we called it at other campgrounds I’ve been in.  I’ve also noticed that if I don’t remove those expired tags from a campsite, most incoming campers don’t know that the site is now available.  Something else I will need to do, remove old tags from camp posts.

note: a couple days later and we're still attempting to sort out the "compliance" procedure at this park.  With little to no guidance, I'm picking up tips only when it isn't done their way.  I keep getting, George didn't do it that way, or that's how George did it, but no real guidance.  I finally asked, how did George do it?  Would you believe, I finally got the answer and it pretty much followed the way I've done it at other parks.  But who knew?

News from around the park:

Dozens of wild hogs have been entering the park.  I saw them haul one away in a trap today.  The hog was huge.  You know they can have 5 or 6 babies 1 1/2 times a year so I’m told.  A couple days ago they caught 3 small ones and six adult hogs shortly after putting down the traps.  3 were pregnant.  Hogs can tear up a campground in no time.  They’re very destructive.  They estimate that over 500 feral hogs are in the area.

Raccoons have been a nuisance as well.  Many of our newer campers have experienced the loss of food goods from their coolers.  They quickly learn to protect food by keeping coolers in their vehicles.

We have a dozen or more sand hill cranes in residence.  They stay all year long and stand at each site hoping for a hand out.  Very polite, but will squawk in frustration when no food is forthcoming.  One camper said they kept her company and even listened to her music.

A marshy island is just off the main shoreline on Lake Mary Jane and is a bird rookery.  During the winter, migrating birds fill the island and have their babies in relative safety, it’s like a big nursery for birds.

About a half dozen deer wander around the campsites outer edges in the evening.  The sand hill cranes don’t like them and will complain loudly.  The deer ignore them.  They are very tame and will often stop to let you take pictures of them.

400 girl scouts are here this weekend.  They’ve taken up residence filling up all of the group camping sites.  Should be an interesting weekend.

Only 6 people are permitted on each campsite.  Yesterday, cars kept arriving and dropping off kids for a birthday party.  I counted 12 kids at the campsite this morning having breakfast.  I’d say they more than likely stayed overnight, along with at least two adults on one campsite.  The office personnel were not happy and intended on going to the site and charging them for the additional people and of course giving them a scolding along the way.  Later in the day I was asked to check on a double family site which ended up having 35 eagle scouts and parents on the sites.  They ended up paying for a third family site.

My first weekend here in the park has gone by very smoothly.  The campground has been pretty full from Thursday thru Sunday including all the group camping sites (400+) and family campsites (18+).  At the front office they informed me that all the picnic pavilions up front are rented out on Saturday.  Fortunately since the park is so large, they can handle those big crowds and the average person would not even know that the park as so filled with day use folks and campers.

Saturday night I did have to mention to one camper that their music was not too loud, but their kids while playing had voices that could wake the dead.  It was well after the 10pm quiet hour and the kids were still playing hide and seek.  Screeching each time they found the one hiding.  They were directly across from the Camp Host.  Don't mess with the Camp Host.  (grin)

Temperatures after my first day in the campground dropped down to wonderful fall type weather for Florida anyway.  That means low humidity, day temperatures around 80 degrees and evenings around 58.  A very light breeze during the day and sunny blue skies, not a cloud in the sky.  In between my camp host duties which gives me lots of exercise walking around the campground 3-4 and 5 times a day, I’ve enjoyed talking to the weekend campers and just hanging around the campsite reading an Agatha Christie book.

Not a bad way to start out my first week as camp host at Moss Park.