My boss called and wanted me to start a few days early. Saturday May 4th instead of the following Wednesday. The winter camp host at Wishon campground wanted to leave and there was no one else available yet. I agreed and headed up there.
Rhonda Johnson was the camp host and gave me a quick overview of my duties. I had met her last fall when she first started the job. I think she was fairly burnt out on this campground. Jace offered her work in Oregon, so she was eager to head north.
A couple things had bothered her about this job. Jace had told her that it rarely snowed here and little accumulation. Well, this was a cold and wetter winter. At one point, she was snowed in for a couple weeks, with 4 feet of snow at it’s peak. The canopy on her fifth wheel trailer got torn a little and the metal supports bent. The other thing that bugged her was the boss reducing her hours because of low camper turnout. This job was supposed to be for 30 hours per week in the fall, with less hours at the dead of winter. At one point, Rhonda was told she only needed to work 30 minutes per day. That’s only $5 per day after taxes! She told the boss if her hours got cut that much that she would leave. So the boss backed down, but the hours were reduced to an hour per day for part of the winter.
Rhonda’s husband, Robert, stayed with her most of the time. He is diabetic and had most of one foot removed. So he is on disability. He told me that he doesn’t expect to live to 50. He’s 47 now. She is also diabetic and struggles with circulation in her feet. Both are nice people, but not real active and overweight. They had satellite TV and watching it was their main time filler.
They invited me to supper, pizza and tamales. Their Boston Terrier took a real liking to me and wanted all my attention. Rhonda said that was very unusual for their dog, he usually disliked all males. We talked until dark. She used to live in North Pole, Alaska for a few years, about 20 years ago. She drove school bus there. Small world! I lived there a few years, too. Just not at the same time as her.
The next day, they got ready to go but had a hard time jacking up the trailer high enough to get their pickup under it. They were doing something wrong, but I was working and didn’t have time to help. An old man that was camping there, finally helped them. Robert had no clue how to back the trailer out. So I directed him. He still kept turning the wheels the wrong way. It took him 15 minutes to finally listen to my directions. Then it was a piece of cake and they were headed down the road. Don’t know if I’ll see them again. Rhonda didn’t sound like she wanted to come back next winter.
The campground needs a lot of cleanup and maintenance. I don’t think Rhonda did much more than the basics; collecting camp fees, selling firewood, quick bathroom cleanings, and paperwork. The fire pits need emptying, no campsites have been raked clean of debris and leaves, bathrooms need a deep cleaning, roads and driveways need to be blown off, blackberry bushes are creeping onto roads and campsites everywhere, and much more. Maybe she just didn’t have the time to do much, because of not getting enough hours. I don’t think she is physically able to do some of the tasks, because of her diabetes and foot pain. I know that I can’t do everything either, not with only 6 hours per day and having to play garbage man, too. One really lousy thing that they did was, the dog pooped all over the camphost site and they never picked it up. Sam noticed that right away and was nice enough to pick it all up and burn it with the piles of pine needles.
iggyvandweller 