The first campers showed up at 1:30 in the morning, wanting to get a jumpstart on the season. They were quiet and didn’t wake me. I saw their tent when I got up, but they didn’t get up until 10 or 11. They are a young couple, about thirty years old. I remembered them from years past, they usually come 2-3 times per summer, with several generations of other family members. He said they slept on the ground, because they worried if they ran a compressor to blow up an air mattress, it would wake me. That was considerate of them.
I spent over an hour, deep-cleaning all 4 bathrooms, first thing. The other campers mostly showed up in the late morning or early afternoon. I recognized most. A four-wheeler club comes every year and rents 5 campsites. A big Mexican family rents 3 sites every Memorial Day weekend, and always invite me over for a carne asada meal on Saturday nights. Same this year.
I talked with various people all day; neighbors from the nearby cabins, many fishermen, some hikers, bicyclists, and campers. They had lots of questions. My throat is sore from chatting so much. The fire chief, two sheriffs, and two Forest Service LEOs all stopped in at the same time to emphasize the no campfire rule for the summer. Campfires in the whole area are being shut down because of low winter snowfall, and the large amount of dead trees. The fire ban includes all elevations and both private and public land. In a week, they will start enforcing strictly. Campers will be unhappy, it’s almost like an extension of the virus quarantine. Government taking away more freedoms. But it might prevent a forest fire. 3 summers ago, there was a huge fire in this area that came close to be burning the town and campgrounds. Hundreds of thousands of acres were burned and it took a month and a half to get it completely under control. One sheriff came back at nightfall to check for campfires, but only propane stoves were being used. The fine is up to $5000 for an illegal campfire. And I could be fined if I knowingly allow any.
I needed a break in the late afternoon and went for an hour-long hike. Of course, that’s when my boss stopped by. She left a note and a couple items that I needed, but still forgot to bring many things. I’ll give her a list tomorrow when she comes again.
The virus rules are already bothering me. The face shield fogs up from my breathing and interferes with wearing my company cap. The face mask slides up into my eyes constantly, so I have to keep pulling it back down. The latex gloves are alright. Wearing a paper smock for cleaning bathrooms makes no sense that I can think of. Putting received money and paperwork into a plastic bag for three days is overkill. It ended up taking much more time to do everything. And the campers’ dogs bark at me because of me looking like a space alien.
The leader of the fourwheeler club brought over a supper of homemade pasta, chicken, shrimp, and veggies. So good! Then two Jewish couples had me come over for a special Israeli bread and wine for Shabbat. I think I’m officially a Jew now, because of sharing that with them.
One guy rolled up late and asked if any campsites were available. 3 were, because of people reserving on Saturday instead of Friday. But he only had $6 and the nearest ATM is two hours round-trip. He asked if I would take 2 MREs and the $6 in exchange for one night camping. I felt sorry for him and said, sure. I just can’t put it on the books. The $6 I’ll write up as an extra car at another site. The MREs will come in handy when I camp at Dome Rock on some days off.
The electric company line boss stopped in and let me know that a big crew and a boom truck or two are coming next Tuesday and Wednesday to cut down the two giant trees by my campsite. I might have to take my tents back down and move campers from two other campsites for those days. Then they’ll be back another time this summer to install some new telephone poles through the campground. Kinda wish they could’ve done all this in the off-season. But, at least I’ll get to watch them at work. It’ll be interesting.
Not a bad day, other than the virus protection crap. I worked way more than the allotted four hours, but I’ll try to work less tomorrow to compensate. It’s going to be a weird summer, but hopefully a good one.
iggyvandweller 