Paid job at Lake Piru...!

Recreation Resource Management needs a host or host couple immediately at Lake Piru in Southern California that has experience with marina management, boat rental operations, and boat engine maintenance. The job pays a wage plus a host site and utilities at the Lake Piru Recreation Area in Ventura County.   Please contact Marilyn Sommer at sommer@camprrm.com with your resume or background if you are interested. Make sure to include your contact information. Please do not respond unless you are interested in this specific location and have the relevant experience. You need to contact the email above.   See photos of this beautiful recreation area by clicking here.

Host Couples Needed

We need host couples for the summer season of 2013 at a campground on Mt. Lemon in the Coronado National Forest near Tucson, AZ. These positions pay a wage plus the host site and utilities. 

Please contact Carey Hamblin at hamblin@camprrm.com with your resume or background if you are interested. Make sure to include your contact information. Please do not respond unless you are interested in this specific location.

Camp Host Jobs Summer 2012 - Get 'em B4 they are gone!

I filled out an application for Recreational Resource Management online and nothing happened last year.  But this year I've had offer after offer to apply for openings.  Why?...  Have openings increased that much, or does it just take that long to get to the "right spot" on the list of applicants?  Anyway, I can't take a job right now, so here are the latest job descriptions for you (just click on the links written in blue):

(1)  Immediate Camp Host Openings near Wenatchee, WA
Orondo River State Park - What beauty!  This link opens to a slide show that literally made me drool.  How I'd love to live and work here! These positions pay a wage plus a host site and utilities.   These are part-time positions and involve substantially fewer than 40 hours per week.
Please contact Reggie Boyd at boyd@camprrm.com with your resume or background if you are interested. 
(2)  Immediate Camp Host Openings in East Texas
We need a host couples for this summer immediately at the Double Lake campground and recreation area in East Texas.  These positions pay a wage plus a host site and utilities. Please contact Craig Bradford at  cbradford@camprrm.com with your resume or background if you are interested.
(3)  Immediate Camp Host Openings near Ocala, Florida
We need a host couples for this summer immediately at the Juniper Springs campground and recreation area near Ocala, Florida.  These positions pay a wage plus a host site and utilities. 
Please contact Alice Alexander at alicea@camprrm.com with your resume or background if you are interested. 
Please see my blog page on this extraordinary State Park.  I was so enchanted with the springs that I couldn't stop taking footage and wandering the trails.  We tried so hard to get a job here last winter...and went in person to apply.  We were told you needed to start in the hot months "to prove yourself" before you'd be hired on for the winter.  It would have been worth it...but I had to get back to Utah.  It still stings a bit to see this job offer now, though, when we wanted it so badly.
(4)  Immediate Camp Host Openings in Ventura County, CA
We need a host couple for this summer immediately at a campground at Lake Piru in Ventura County, California, just north of LA.  These positions pay a wage plus a host site and utilities. 
Please contact Dori Clark at clarks@camprrm.com with your resume or background if you are interested.  We spent a winter on the California Coast...and here you have divine weather year round, so I'm thinking this job is probably already filled.
(5)  Immediate Camp Host Openings near Tucson, AZ
We need a host couple for this summer immediately at a campground on Mt. Lemon in the Coronado National Forest near Tucson, AZ.  These positions pay a wage plus the host site and utilities. 
Please contact Carey Hamblin at hamblin@camprrm.com with your resume or background if you are interested.  Please see my blog page on this area.  Its natural beauty left me breathless.  And I learned to respect the spines of the cacti.   :]
(6)  Camp Host Openings in the Michigan Upper Peninsula
We need two host couples in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  These positions are in US Forest Service campgrounds, and pay a wage plus the host site.  Note, however, that these two sites have a septic holding tank but no electricity.  In addition to your wages, we give a $100 reimbursement each month to cover generator fuel costs.  Please contact Dave Wendel at dave@camprrm.com with your resume or background if you are interested.
(7)  2012 Camp Host Openings in California
We currently are seeking a camp hosts in eastern California.  These jobs includes a host site plus wages.  Six positions are in Rock Creek Canyon, which is located just south of Mammoth, California.  If you are interested, send an email to Kevin and Pam Russell at russell@camprrm.com with your resume or background if you are interested.

Good luck in your quest...and please email me with any questions you may have.  It's truly as fun camp hosting as everyone says!

BOONDOCKING...vs. CAMP HOST JOBS

Honestly...it takes a LOT of faith to get a great camp host job or to otherwise find  your perfect "free spot".  We lucked onto a terrific ebook on free camping sites at:  www. frugal-rv-travel.com, "A Frugal Shunpiker's Guide" by Marianne Edwards.  It cost a few dollars, but was so worth it.  [Click on our Amazon link at the top-right and get your own boondocking books.]  True to Marianne's word, she sends detailed updates and/or corrections.  We have also tried our luck by "surfing the web" for free spots...and the truth is, even web pages where the author seemed quite knowledgeable and the information very detailed, we'd be off on a wild goose chase most often.  BLM camping spots would have new development, if they were close to "civilization"; and roads to some destinations were mere figments of some one's imagination (or poor memory).  We learned the hard way its best to talk with someone who has camped-4-free very recently and can give you reliable information.  Let's give you a recent example of one of our "goofs":

First, we went on internet info on a road west of Tucson that went from rough to sandy dirt and then to desolation.  We felt we needed "protection", especially after reading the "welcome" sign below.  Bob had never fired his bit of a gun, so he decided to see if it actually worked.  It did, and I took a bit of film to prove it.  Then check out the last photo of our actual camp site.  Seriously...what is there to do at this spot?  It was coming into focus:  These spots are free because that's what they are worth.  We locked ourselves into the RV and waited for first light.  It was the very next day, in the nearby Arizona Sonora-Desert Museum, we happened to run into an officer who did border patrol in the area.  He told us we were crazy to have camped where we did....that there were regular shootings in the area as it's a hotly contested drug trafficking route.  The sign with the bullet holes was not even close to being a sufficient warning for the risks involved in being alone at night (anywhere) in the area.  Ahhhh.....crap!

The above shadows belong to two lonely, nervous campers.

So....what about free camping as a camp host?  We got a job offer at St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, a preserve for open grassy forests of longleaf pine that were once commonplace throughout Florida. Their brochure reads, "The pine flatwoods form a backdrop for other biological communities, including cypress domes, scrubby flatwoods, sandhills, a beautiful strand swamp, and over 50 protected species.  Photographers, bird-watchers, and nature enthusiasts can explore miles of trails on foot, bicycle, or horseback. Canoeing, boating, and fishing on the St. Sebastian River are popular activities. "

The job offer came with the following attachment explaining the cost of a "free" camping spot.
Responsibilities of camp Volunteers
In exchange for a free campsite, volunteers are expected to perform 20 hours of service every week per Camp site [that's 20 hours for each of us, 40 hours total]

Duties include:

• Open gate every day at 8am. (Rotational with other volunteers as available)
• Close gate every night at sunset, check trash at spillway.
• Respond to visitor questions regarding the preserve.
• Work the Visitor Center as per scheduling (Fri – Sat, 10 to 4:30, Sun 12 to 4:30)
• Clean Visitor Center and North office each week   (take trash to dumpster)
• Clean bunkhouse    
• Check shop (sweep and take out trash)
• Check camp sites     (clean out fire pits and pick up trash)
• Pick up trash along roadways.
• Mow and weed eat: Parking lots, shop compounds, camp sites and camp host areas.
• Trail maintenance (may require operation of heavy machinery)
• Miscellaneous projects to be assigned

We came close to taking this job, as the preserve was not far from Miami beaches, but isolated and "wild"...actually too wild, as we couldn't get the internet there...and there was no church or grocery store close by.  As much as we love camp hosting, there is no such thing as a FREE SITE.  Nope...you pay, but almost to a person we hosts love the work and would do it for free.

If you have your mind made up you must have a free site, then just park on the road in front of a good friend's house.  That's just what we're doing in the following pictures:

Now...because I need the money, please notice my gorgeous stone necklace and then get curious enough to look me up on ebay.  Just click "Advanced" to the right of the search box and then go almost to the bottom of the page and type in my seller name:  RunningHorse48 ... and then you can see all of my astoundingly gorgeous diamond polished stones set in hand-crocheted adjustable necklace bands.  I'll give you a 20% discount if you mention you visited my blog.  Appreciate you!....and thanks, sincerely.

GEMS, Necklaces and My Best Buddy!

YES, I am selling these on ebay...for a fraction of their value. Do I need the cash?  Yes.  Appearing on the left is old-stock Tiger's Eye Agate with mesmerizing heliotrope chatoyancy. It also goes by the name of Iron Stone, and this particular chunk was formed in Australia.  Fascinating as its ever-changing bands are, it's over shadowed by the crystals in the Ocean Wave Jasper  and the finely colored spiderweb turquoise teardrops.  I offered my best-ever childhood friend any of my hundreds of necklaces she wanted...and she shunned these two stunning creations and went for a dozen of my simplest treasures.  She deliberated for quite a while.  She's modeling one of her choices below, a "Dragon's Blood" agate.



It was hard work deciding. Can you see how my Buddy struggled? See if it's easier for you to decide which is the nicest. Just look me up on ebay using the "Advanced Search" and type in my Seller Name: RunningHorse48...and see what's currently offered. (It changes all of the time.) 
Both my Buddy and I have a long history of admiring, collecting and now wearing beautiful stones. I had to part with my gem, fossil and rock collection to move into the RV. The hardest to give up were the geodes, particularly the Thunderegg collection. Having so many Thunderegg Slice Necklaces helped me survive the separation crisis. So how did we get our energy back from our decision making? ...by going to The Olive Garden, where the menu asked us for much simpler choices.

 I had my own hard choices to make.  I would love to stay with my Best Buddy in Arizona forever, but it was time to fly to Salt Lake City to visit my children and the growing-up-to-fast grandkids.  The views during my flight almost overwhelmed me with their intriguing geology.  The one above is of an area in a protection battle right now.

 This view from the plane is THE GOAL:  Hike Mountain Timpanogos with as many of the family who can stand the all-day hike.  I signed up at Gold's Gym as soon as the plane landed to get closer to this goal!

 The grandkids look so grown-up compared to my last personal assessment.  And they seemed more interested in the big screen than their grandma...except baby Zeke.  He's made of love!

Can you read the words on this cake?  Maybe they did miss me after all.  They still like chocolate cake, I do know that.  Look at the picture below to see how little chocolate missed their mouths.

The grandbaby who changed the most while I was off camphosting was baby Izzy.  She was now bigger than her baby dolls!

So...It's wonderful to be among my extra-darling family again...but there's still the hard matter of making a living.   As a grandma, it's so important to buy toys, and more toys.  Please remember to look me up on ebay using the "Advanced Search",  type in my Seller Name: RunningHorse48...and see if there's something that interests you.  Thank you!....sincerely.

The AMAZING Desert Museum - Tucson's BEST attraction

We heard the Desert Museum is the best in the west, which makes you curious; but experiencing it makes you want to bring the world here... especially kids!  Clearly any child would learn beyond measure, without even knowing it amidst their fun.  It's a huge adventure with garden after garden, a zoo with natural habitats, and many inviting interactive exhibits.  You can dig for fossils, go underground to see how critters live there, or go underwater to visit beaver, otters and fish. 

I couldn't get myself out of the Earth Science section, with minerals that had me drooling and mystified by their local history. It's the first time I saw big chunks of minerals displayed as they might have looked when discovered in the country rock.  Pictured are Wulfenite and Mimetite (the yellow crystals) and Vanadanite (reddish).

The blue of course is Malachite (found near Bisbee, Arizona).  The Vanadinite was found in the  Superstition Mountains.  It's part of one of the finest collections of regional minerals and gemstones found anywhere!  But the limestone cave trumped them all with its running water, pools full of crayfish, and inviting exhibits that explain the formation of caves and the earth itself.  They made the speleothems out of a foam base, and then carved and painted it.  Most people think they are in a real cave with real decorations when they enter.  Fun.

I was excited to see how many of the cacti I could now name in the cactus garden (after my fine walk with Ed the Naturalist).  I was just admiring the displays when sure enough... despite my precautions, a cactus got me again!  By now I had even more tricks for dealing with the pointy hitchhikers (click here).  People who harvest cacti or hike around cactus plants are bound to get stung from time to time, but I still felt pricked on.

It was time to look at safer exhibits, like the giant ram that kept eyeing me.

The exhibits re-create the natural landscape of the Sonoran Desert Region so realistically you find yourself eye-to-eye with mountain lions, prairie dogs, Gila monsters, and rattle snakes. Within the Museum grounds, you get to see more than 300 animal species and 1,200 kinds of plants. There are almost 2 miles of paths traversing 21 acres of beautifully alive desert.  I lost Bob in the maze.  Maybe the mountain lions got him!  The video clip shows just how vicious this pair of cougars could be.

My guess is this is a Guilded Flicker, or maybe the state bird...a cactus wren...not a woodpecker.  But then the only bird I actually know is the robin.  I need more lessons from Naturalist Ed.

If you visit this fine museum give yourself some hours to take it in and you'll be rewarded with some insight into the abundant, complex, and varied life in the area.  A careful exploration helps put this special and rich environment in a much better context... beyond consumption tourism. Photo ops are tremendous.

Read more: http://www.virtualtourist.com/travel/North_America/United_States_of_America/Arizona/Tucson-750502/Things_To_Do-Tucson-Arizona_Sonora_Desert_Museum-BR-1.html#ixzz1kR8oxTL6

You gotta know when to hold 'em...know when to fold 'em...

Know when to walk away, and know when to run!  That's our RV in the photo, parked right by the covered hot tub we just enjoyed.  The latest information on our Colossal job [from an employee of the park]:  The maintenance manager is supposedly an alcoholic, along with his wife and brother, who are also on the payroll.  There is not a penny for improvement, due to mismanagement, it would seem, but we were told the manager has been tucking money into his own pocket.  Were any of these allegations true?  [Stay tuned.]  Martie kept saying there was no money, but we'd seen all kinds of people taking the cave tour and buying things in the park.  We believe Martie.  She is a kind, gracious, noble person...completely dedicated to the park.  So why is there no money for maintenance?

We needed to get away.  A week had gone by and our host site was still not accessible, so we needed to go somewhere to empty our tanks and fill up with water.   We decided to explore Benson, Arizona.  We checked out our competition, Kartchner Caverns State Park.  Then we checked out RV parks, thinking we might need to live in one if we didn't have a hosting job.  These pictures are of Chochise Terrace RV Resort from our site, #256.  We parked next to the camp host.  They usually make the best neighbors.  Below is our host, and his dutiful dog.

Business had seriously dropped off.  Competition is huge among the parks,  We paid $33.41 for the night...but there were less expensive places down the road.  But this is the only park far enough away from the railroad tracks to sleep undisturbed.

We thoroughly checked out a co-op with very individualized lots, like the one above (which is for sale).  We heard hosts complaining in this park--that either the management liked you or not.  If not, it was a tough haul. 

The co-op is considered boondocking because it's only $5 to dry camp on the above section.  It's like a Walmart parking lot...except you can join in on the planned activities.  Check this place out at SKP Saguaro.  You do have to join Escapees to get this price, though... we discovered after parking and starting to enjoy the park.   Ah, well.  We found out some fellow RVers settled in at Benson on 5 fenced acres with a like-new 2,000+ sf home with a wrap-around porch and a garage complete with workshop....for...get ready.... $111,000. 

No S&Bs, please.... I just want to be FREE....to run like a wild horse.     Thank you.