September - moving to a new spot - at the campground at Prince William Forest Park - Sasha's new work schedule - where he now goes to work in a library - and I can go too - So we do a lot of reading, watching movies, and being part of the campground life. You can see the books we have been reading on the right side of this page. I will have more of the story soon.

One of the big changes was that I am now a Campground Host, which is different from being the Visitor Center Host. As Visitor Center Host, I volunteered at the Visitor Center, doing the same type of job as those that were paid, from opening and closing the center, to everything in between. I really enjoyed the people that came by to get information and learn about the park. The big part about the visitor center is that people have to seek it out, because it is not at the entrance of the park, and you can get to the scenic loop and most of the park without going past the visitor center. So there is a different type of person coming to the VC.

But at the campground, you get all types of people, some that are fair and honest, and some that are not. Labor Day weekend was my first experience as a campground host - what a weekend to start!

Let me just tell you a little bit about the campground and the park so that you can understand how it works, because most people (especially my family!) do not know. 

When you come into the park, there is an entrance station where Park Rangers work (during the weekends) and you pay a five dollar "park usage fee" which is good for a week. Of course we get people that only want to pay a dollar as they are going to be here for a day - but that is not how it works. Or they can pay $20 for an Annual Park pass for Prince William Forest Park, or $80 for the Annual America the Beautiful for all National Parks and Federal Lands. Those that are Seniors only pay once $10 for the Senior Pass and Handicapped people can get an Access Pass for free.  The Senior and Access pass people can get their campground for Half-price and everyone that gets one of these cards just has to show the pass and not have to pay the "park usage fee". Of course Seniors and Access people have the best deals, I actually had some Seniors come to the visitor center on their Birthdays so that they could get their passes - that was so much fun!

Once they have paid, then they can go to the visitor center or (most) take a left onto the Scenic Drive Loop, that takes them to most of the hiking trails and the campgrounds. We have many different ways to camp here at the park: there is a RV campground which is run by a Vendor - No park rangers or volunteers hosts are there; five cabin camps: four of them you rent the entire camp of anywhere from 10 to 30 cabins and they have separate entrances, fees and a different department that deals with them, however, one of the cabin camps does do individual cabins, but again, the cabin camp hosts are there for that; Backcountry Camping - where you get a permit and hike into your camping area - no open fires, no pets, no bathrooms, but also no fees; Group Camping - where groups of 25 to 40 people can go in a particular spot and camp, we have 6 of those camp sites and they fill up most fall and spring weekends; and then the regular campground - at which I am the host.

This campground does not have any hook-ups - meaning no electricity, water (at the sites) or sewer so for RVers, it is dry camping. $15 a night is pretty cheap for camping, as Virginia State Parks are at least $15 and then you have to pay TAX! and Most are more than $15. Shenandoah National Park has quite a few campgrounds (they are the closest National Park from us) are $15 to $20 a night for no hook-ups too. The closest non-state or federal campground for mixed use (meaning RVers and tent camping) is Bull Run Campground which is $25 per night and again no hookups. The reason I am talking about this is because of campers stating that the price is high when as a matter of fact, it is not. You buy two fancy smancy coffees for that much. - But more on that later.

The campground has 100 wooded sites with a fire pit and room for two tents and two cars (if needed). The rules state a maximum of six people on the site (it is a family campground after all), maximum of two cars and maximum of two tents. Most of the camp sites have a square area showing where your tent can go. They do this so that there was less impact on the site. Most often than not, the campground is not full. Only fabulous weather, holiday weekend, and other forces that be can make the campground full. Well, Labor Day weekend had all of the forces that be, but it did not fill up - we had about 70 campers though, and that was quite full. And with three loops: A, B, and C, it took a little while to go around to all of the sites.

When we moved into the site, we decided not to take the camper off of the truck. We wanted to be a little higher up to get the rays of the internet card and the cell phones, and also as a stabilizer for the camper - there are more things on the ground to help keep the camper steady. We put the trailer in the parking lot near our camper, but slightly out of the way, so that others could park in the parking lot. We have a big space out in the open; hopefully I will get a picture up soon, we have to get a new camera.  The kiosk is right in front of us where the campers self-pay...even though there are directions, they still ask a few questions on how they are supposed to do the registering.

So for being campground hosts, we get full hook-ups, a radio with charger, and use of an ATV - a Kawasaki Mule. However, the mule was not working, which makes going around to the campsites a little harder, I either have to go around on foot, or with my car. I also have to clean out the fire rings, but can't do that with the car, there is no way I am going to put a dirty shovel, can of water and other stuff in the trunk. And the Law Enforcement (LE) Park Ranger that is in charge of the campground, went on vacation for 3 weeks out to Colorado (lucky him!) So I did not clean out the fire pits for most of that time. However, last week (around September 14th), we got 70s - cool and not buggy; we also have a little cart, so I took the shovel and cleared out the first loop's 40+ fire rings.  I just check to make sure the fire is out, then shovel the coals out and place in the back of the campsite. When you go to some of these campsites, you see where the coals have been placed, and there are little trees or large plants growing. Obviously, the coals are nourishing the plants.

So I go around two or three times a day - three on the weekends and two during the week. Mornings are to see who came in the night before, afternoons are to make sure the people left that were here for one night, and evenings are to make sure that people paid and they are settled in. I have a little system: in the evening, I go around and check to see that people have paid, then mark their slips with different colored pens and write down their license plates on the campground sheets. In the morning, I go around and check in the people that came in the night before, do the license plate thing and the colored pen, and take down slips of the people that have left. In the afternoon, I am supposed to get the last of the slips of the people that have left and clean out the fire rings, but as the Mule is still not working (September 23rd), that is not going to happen.

Check out October 2007 - The mule is finally working, and we have a new camera - yeah, pictures!.