Camphosting Update

We previously talked about our camphosting experience at Bolding Mill CG on Lake Lanier in Gainesville, Ga. We cleaned bathrooms, campsites, blew off roads and helped campers with their problems. The hours were 20 hours a week per campsite. If one person worked 10 hours, it counted as 10 hours. If two persons from the same campsite worked 10 hours at the same time, it still only counted as 10 hours. Guess what, most of the time, only one of us worked. In spite of it being 95 degrees, we enjoyed ourselves, mostly because of the clients/campers and the fellowship with the other volunteers.The volunteers got together for cookouts and such. That being said, we probably won't volunteer in the heat of the summer again.

Last September, we camphosted at Edisto Beach State Park. It's one of the barrier islands near Charleston, SC. It was twenty five hours per campsite. Five, five hour days. It was the same deal as Bolding Mill so I worked the twenty five hours by myself and left my significant other at the RV. The duties were about the same except we didn't have to clean bathrooms. The Rangers and other volunteers were very nice. There was very little interaction between volunteers. The volunteers did not have sewer. We won't do without sewer in the future. This experience reinforced our decision not to camphost during the summer in the South. The mosquitos were intolerable.

We are now at Sawnee CG on Lake Lanier for the winter. So far, so good. We have had one cookout and we see the other volunteers often. The hours are as they should be. If we both work 5 hours together, we get credit for ten.

All in all, camphosting has been a good experience. Next year, we may not camphost. We will travel more and spend all the money we saved!

Thank you
Mike Robinson

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