Piles Of Poop, A Grumpy Cop, and 2 Iranians

20% of the camping season is done and it’s mostly going well. It hasn’t been necessary even once to get up at night to quiet down loud campers, knock on wood. No bear visits, haven’t seen any mountain lions or wolves yet, and the only 2 snakes that I’ve seen have been rubber boas. The campgrounds are in almost perfect shape now, and it is easier to keep it that way. The maintenance man has been swamped with work at other campgrounds and day-use areas, so I’m waiting for him to do a few small projects. But nothing too important, other than the grass getting too tall at several campsites.

Today did have a few low points, though it was mostly a great day. One camping party left and I discovered one of them had left a big pile of human poop in the fire pit. Quite fragrant! At another campsite, the family had dug several holes behind their tent to poop in, leaving the poop and toilet paper exposed. Luckily these occurrences are rare, happening only 2-3 times per season. Maybe this kind of behavior is over for this year? I can hope! It makes no sense when bathrooms are close by, rarely a line to get in, and I keep them very clean. The messes took less than ten minutes to take care of and I mostly put them out of my mind.

When I drove the golf cart to the other campground, I got pulled over by a US Forest Service Police Officer. He told me that driving the cart on county roads is illegal. It’s okay to use in the town of Camp Nelson, but the last 400 feet of road before Coy Flat campground is illegal, as is the last 1/4 mile before Belknap campground. He is a completely humorless officer, and is famous locally for being strictly by-the-book and writing tickets whenever he gets a chance. He has no interest in being popular or building any rapport with locals. I was pleasant and polite to him, but he said he still needed to write a report and send it to the county sheriff. He said that he doesn’t have the authority to write me a ticket on that section of road, but will turn it over to the sheriff and urge him to enforce the traffic laws against me. I explained that I’m just using the only vehicle provided to me by the company, but he said any ticket would still be written to me and would go on my record. Plus if I’m pulled over by a county patrol, I’d have to leave the golf cart parked there, walking back to campground and having it towed. I’m unsure if I want to inform my boss. She would legally have to tell her boss and work out a solution, either paying me gas mileage to use my van or giving me a pickup to drive. I really don’t want to use my van, because of wear and tear and having to put all those tools needed inside. I’ve done it in the past, but didn’t like it. It’s nice to leave the van parked in one place all week. Katherine told me that all the pickups are in use, with none to spare. If there was an extra one for me, she would want me to do garbage runs with it, adding 2-4 hours of work daily. I don’t need or want any additional work tasks. What I’m inclined to do is, don’t tell my boss about being pulled over and keep driving the golf cart until forced to stop by county police. In previous years, I’d see those police maybe 2-4 times per year, usually cruising by my campgrounds during a holiday or in hunting season. The odds of one catching me on those little sections of road with the golf cart is quite low, unless they decide to target me and wait for the right moment. I doubt that would be high on their priority. And the company would have to pay any ticket since I’m working under their orders. Driving the golf cart is actually a lot of fun for me, too.

A conversation with an Iranian couple made my day great, despite the other happenings. Haman and Rosa stayed for a couple nights at Coy Flat and wanted to chat each time that I came around. They gave me some tasty pastries twice, that I saved for supper time, since I only eat one per day. I was curious about their lives and sat with them for most of an hour today. Both are 47 years old and came to America 12 years ago, living in Iran all their lives before that. They met in college and dated briefly at age 18. But dating is forbidden in Iran and they were too scared to continue after being questioned by authorities. They married other people and had children. Both were divorced when they met again 15 years later and fell in love. Life was so repressive that they sought escape from Iran. After vacationing in Dubai several times in a couple year period, one day they took their children and fled to the US from Dubai, leaving almost everything behind in Iran. Starting over with nothing, they’ve built up some net worth, but say it is still a struggle, financially. I think they are doing better than they let on, because they are looking to build a vacation house in Camp Nelson. Not many people can afford second homes, especially ones located in California.

I asked what Iran is really like, besides the reports of state-sponsered terrorism and hatred against Israel. Haman laughed, and said that ordinary Iranian citizens despise their government for encouraging terrorism and actually are mostly only nominally Muslim, wanting a secular society. What really surprised me is, he said that probably 95% of the people respect and like the Jews, much more than the Arabs. It’s only the government leaders and hyper-religious cult members (his words) that hate Jews and Americans, striving to sow discord. Unfortunately, that’s who is in charge of the country, and they have all the power and guns. Haman and Rosa said that almost everyone else wants to have a peaceful, open country; one that welcomes Jews and Christians back, like it was in the past. But they don’t want Arabs or militant Muslims corrupting their society, and those would not be welcomed. Many of the citizens now call themselves Persians, rather than Iranians, looking back at their 4000 year-old history and as an act of defiance against the ruling mullahs. But Haman says that he doesn’t do that, because true Persians are only part of the many ethnic groups that comprise today’s Iran. He is not a Persian, though Rosa is. Both have hope that the current repressive government in Iran will be overthrown in their lifetimes.

An enlightening conversation for sure! They plan to visit again, a time or two, this season. I hope they do! Not for the sweets, but for chatting with and learning from. Speaking of sweets, I haven’t been strict with my diet, as far eating only healthy foods. It’s not feasible without a fridge or access to local, affordable groceries. But have been faithful with eating just once a day, walking plenty of miles, and doing exercises. It’s working so far, with a 21 pound weight loss in under 6 weeks. It’s good to be out of the 200’s, being 196 lbs at the moment. That rate of losing weight is not likely to maintain over the whole season, but it’s an awesome start. I’ve averaged about 6 miles of walking per day since starting work, but have been doing over 10 miles per day lately. 7-8 miles of that is during work time, and 2-3 miles is from local short hikes. I should back off a little, to avoid too much wear on my feet and joints. But it feels good that my fitness and muscles have no trouble with all this hilly terrain. My legs are getting sculpted, my butt is smaller but stronger, my face and neck have little fat. The belly fat will be the last to shrink, but I hope to see a noticeable difference in the near future. I will like it a lot, if this season continues much the way the first 20% has been.