Newbie Hosting…

Friday night we had a truck camper pull into one of the day use spots to camp – they wanted it because it was close to the boat ramp. It was fine by us, as long as they paid the $10/night fee just as if they were in an official spot. And actually, I’m glad that they were by us and not in another loop where they would have been bothering the other campers without our knowledge. Friday night was hot and humid, rather unusual (at least the humid part), and everyone had their camper windows open hoping to catch any hint of a breeze – it was completely still. At about 10:30, their site (3 guys) starts getting a little boisterous around the campfire. They had been drinking just enough to talk good and loud thinking that everyone along the lake wanted to hear all the ultra cool things that they had to say – too bad that they only seemed to be able to recall four-letter words in their inebriated state. It went downhill as the night progressed. As it got later and later, the drunk got louder and louder while his friend is continually telling him to quiet down. One man had gone to be early, then about 1 the not-so-drunk one goes into their truck camper, and the drunk is left alone, muttering to himself about the gestapo camp host. LOL! Pretty soon, Vaughn (who is keeping an eye on him from inside the camper) sees him walk towards and past our toy hauler and over to the edge of the lake in front of our trailer. Since we couldn’t see him, Vaughn slipped outside to see what sort of mischief he was up to. Our inebriated gentleman stood over by the lake for a time, and then slipped back to the backside of our camper where the vehicles are parked, stopping behind Vaughn’s big white Dodge, and reached down muttering how he was going to get to get even with that #@!* camp host! Just as he stood up with a rock, Vaughn stepped out from the shadows and said how this wasn’t the way back to his camper. The drunk about jumped out of his skin, then kept mumbling how he was just trying to get back to his camper. Eventually he did make it back to his camper, and we stayed up long enough to ensure that he had passed out.

Vaughn had gone over and talked to them twice, which was once too many. Next time he will just call the sheriff after the first confrontation, but we were trying to be nice, and really didn’t want to have to call out the LEOs the first weekend we were here. The group was still around Sat. night, but the weather wasn’t so great, so they turned in early (along with everyone else), and we didn’t have any more problems.

Seeing this kind of behaviour (and other instances) is really great for my kids. I know that lots of people try to keep their kids away from stuff like that (and we do in some cases too), but it is a great first-hand look at the effects of alcohol and the consequences of it. So, while for us, not drinking is a spiritual/belief issue, it never hurts for the kids to be able to see what can happen when you allow yourself to be controlled by a substance.

So, while I have spent this entire post ranting about one man, let me assure you that despite our minor run-in with him, I am still thinking that this is my dream job! 🙂

This morning, I was half an hour late to get my laundry out of the KOA dryers because I HAD to stop and talk to some campers! It’s tough, let me tell you! 😉

Camp hosting has some perks – like running water (in a dry camping campground)…Yes, Joel has his life jacket on backwards. First they were kayaking, then, when Daddy decided to wash the camper, he was squirting the boys with the hose. That’s Joel’s body armor…

I think that we are ALL enjoying our new location! It is a little bit more of a drive to work for Vaughn, but we are closer to the orthodontist, the cousins, and the lake! Greg loves to be outdoors and is finding lots to do around here. Hannah got put to work in the store first thing, and she is really enjoying the job – and the money she is earning since it’s hard to earn money when we are traveling. The campground caretaker put Eli to work right away, and he can pretty much work there as much as he wants (when he is not working for his dad). Beth has been given a job also, and the 3 littlest boys are setting up garbage cans to collect aluminum cans (recycling is pretty much non-existent in MT); we told them that they could split the $ that they receive when we turn the cans in (and I don’t have guilt about throwing away all the cans from the yummy flavored teas that I have been buying too many of at the KOA store)!We have planters in front of the patio, and we bought flowers for them Monday, which the girls planted, so we even have flower beds to take care of! All the comforts of home! 😉 LOL!