Camp Host Volunteer Orientation. Well, Sort Of.

We arrived at our new volunteer position a couple of weeks early.  The repairs to our camper that we went to the factory in Kansas for were not as severe as anticipated and completed much quicker than allowed for.  We had planned for the worse and hoped for the best, we definitely got the best.  But getting to Chattahoochee Bend early was an adjustment for us and the park.

With a couple days to ourselves we used the time to scrape off 2,000 miles of bugs and road grime.

In an earlier post it was mentioned that the park staff were all new.  Of the seven-person staff (this includes park management, administrative and maintenance), the longest service time was six months, and that was the administrative assistant.  Everybody else had been here only 2 weeks to two months.  The park manager was one of the two-week term people and the assistant manager's position was vacant.  She (the park manager) was on duty as the sole ranger in the park, 7 days a week, 24 hours a day until they could fill the assistant manager position.

We have been volunteering for two years now, two summers on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, a winter in Big Bend National Park in Texas and a winter at Fort Frederica National Monument on St. Simons Island, Georgia.  Even though it was always the same agency, we learned quickly that each park had its own culture and ways of doing things.  We had to be very alert to the nuances of how each manager ran "their" park so as not to inadvertently offend someones sensitivities.  At CBSP we were getting to watch the culture being established.  This newly hired park manager was coming from a private park system (multiple Girl Scout Parks in Tennessee), this was her first venture in state government employment so she was learning the limits of her control and putting her fingerprint on the operation at the same time.

This set of conditions kind of left us hanging the first few days.  Since this is our first state park we are not sure if we are seeing the normal orientation process or not, we expect not.  The volunteer's handbook has some ambiguous language that pretty much lets each park decide what is required of a camp host.  In our park's case we were told that we were to assist campers during the day and check in late arrivals between the office's closing time of 5pm and the park gate closing of 10pm.  For our type of volunteer job (living on-site camp host) we have to contribute a combined 32 hours per week.  When we asked what our off-duty days are, we were looked at like we had two heads.  I don't think that anyone had even considered that we would not be available all day every day.  After a bit of stammering around the answer finally came that we need to be on duty every weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun) and holidays.

We were also told; "By the way, you have to clean your campground loop's bath house and mow, trim and leaf blow the 40 acres it sits on."  I guess we will be contributing more than 32 hours a week.

The other campground host, for campground #2, a tent only campground, is a seasoned veteran of CBSP.  This is his third summer and he has been here for about a month this season, he knows the park by its previous management and he spent some time with us giving us an orientation from his point of view.  By his account he was working about 10 hours a day, 7 days a week.  His only time out of the park was a bi-weekly trip to the grocery store, leaving at sun-up so he could be back before 10am, his usual bathroom cleaning time.  We're not liking how this work schedule seems to be shaping up.  We'll give it some time and see how it really works out.

That being said, mid-week morning the maintenance supervisor shows up with a zero-turn mower and says; "You need to mow.  We'll come get the mower back in the morning."  No how do you do, good morning or anything else.  Just a command to mow.  I told him; "Okay, but somebody is going to have to train me how to operate this piece of machinery."  His training consisted of standing in front of me and moving his arms back and forth to demonstrate how to make the mower "go" and turn.  No explanation of how the start locks worked, no discussion on the safety controls, no discussion of the operating limits, just here you go, you'll figure it out.  I stopped him before he left again, asking about safety equipment - hearing protection, hard toe boots, safety glasses, gloves?  Again I get the look as if I have two heads.  He reluctantly coughed up a pair of gloves, thank goodness I had all the other stuff myself.

Getting my bearings on operating a commercial-grade zero-turn mower.

With all the rain the grass is wet and the ground is wet.  Georgia red clay can be slick on the surface with a firm base beneath.  A combination that can be as treacherous as black ice.  Mowing a flat surface is easy enough but it gets pretty hairy as soon as a slope is encountered.  A thousand pounds of man and machine can quickly slide into a turnover or get stuck.  My first adventure in mowing with a commercial grade zero-turn mower was an all day endeavor with only two extractions by tow rope.

Something else mentioned in an earlier post was that we would be allowed to have bird feeders.  We have been carrying around two giant seed feeders and two hummingbird feeders for the last two years and were only able to put them out last winter while at St Simons Island where the only thing they attracted were undersized deer.  But we're getting action here in the mid-west Georgia woods.  Goldfinches, blue birds, chipping sparrows, morning dove, brown thrashers, woodpeckers and our favorite, hummingbirds.

Ruby throated females constantly accost each other.
We have 8 feeding stations and 20 birds.  It makes for lots of drama at the bird feeder.

Cyndee got the above photo while sitting under the awning, looking out over our "yard".  We both enjoyed a pleasant, and what has been a rare, rain-free evening.  For the first time in a long time we are going to get to see the sun set.  The layout of this park and our position in the loop should set us up for a good look at it.  And it did.

View out our kitchen window.

What a great way to end the day and a blog post.