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Sunday, April 1, 2012

WE GOT 2 CAMPGROUND HOSTS POSITIONS IN MICHIGAN!!

Entering South Carolina

                                                            Added another State!

                                              Ichetucknee Springs "THE BLUE HOLE!   45' DEEP              
                                                            Craig swimming by the Blue Hole!
                                                         Turtle sunning at Ichetucknee Springs!
                                                "THE SWIMMING SPRINGS"
                                                   BEACH VIEW OF OUR FIRST HOST JOB
                                             LIGHTHOUSE AT OUR FIRST GIG!
                                     

                                           BEACH SCENE FOR FIRST GIG
                                               BEACH FROM ON SECOND GIG
                                                    BELOW IS THE BLUE HOLE CAVE
We left our friends Annette and Barry's in Homasassa Florida after being there for a couple of weeks, had such a good time with them, couldn't ask for better hosts and friends, we left there and headed for a camground in Branford about 100 miles from Homasassa! Branford was a place my husband lived for a couple of years in his youth, he wanted to revisit Ichetucknee Springs and his old rental house, well, the house was torn down, so we went to the Springs, they were awesome, there is a cave under water called the blue hole and the water was so clear you could see all the way to the bottom, but I was surprised at how small it was, you had to walk about 1 mile to see the blue hole and the swimming springs were about 2 blocks but very small for swimming! Craig swam by the blue hole for old times sake, I watched and videoed it, lol, I can't swim and it was very deep! We left there and stopped to visit my childhood friend Maria and her husband Wayne, visited for about 2 hrs. before we had to leave, they have a beautiful home and we had a wonderful visit! We left there and stayed at the Harmony Lake campground in Georgia, beautiful campground with a lake, but it was so tight that we could hardly get our slide out and the bugs were horrible! But it was just for the night we got in late and were exhausted so we didn't sit outside anyways!  We decided to get off the road early yestesterday because Craig's back was bothering him and he just wanted to get off the road and rest up a bit, we are at the Lake Marion Resort & Marina campground in Santee South Carolina, nice place with a pool, putt-putt golf, a fishing lake and has cabins for rent and not as many bugs! We will be leaving here around 10 or 11 today, hoping to make it to my daughter Susan's by tonight, but we still have almost 300 miles yet to go, we don't like driving that many miles in a day, to hard on the motorhome and us! So we will play it by ear and see what happens!  We are so excited to see her, her husband, our granddogs and grandcats and their new home!
We got two great camphost positions in Michigan, the first one is right on lake Huron on the edge of the bay. The park contains 183 acres situated on the end of a sandy bay. It has been referred to as the "Cape Cod of the Midwest", where the water is shallow and warm for swimming. We start there on May 31st to July 14th! Such a beautiful place and all we do is smile and greet campers, check the bathrooms to see if they need cleaning and let "THE RANGERS" know so they can clean it, no more cleaning or physical labor for us anymore, Craig can't anyways with arithis in his shoulders now, they said all we have to do is smile and be friendly, have coffee hour every Saturday and enjoy talking with the kids and people in general, well, talking is what I do best, Craig has lots to share about his experiences with nature! Our second camphost gig is Aug. 27th to Oct. 9th on a 1000 acre park with almost one mile of shoreline along a beautiful lake. It has 400 modern, hardwood-shaded campsites, a mini-cabin, sandy beach, fishing, boat launch, picnic area. Self-guided nature trail. Ungroomed trails for hiking ,rowboats, canoes, paddleboats, small motorboat and pontoon rentals and a metal detecting area. We will be there for their fall festival where campers decorate their campsites for Halloween, we will be helping with games for the kids and passing out treats that are provided by the rangers and again they want us to just put on a smiling face and greet everyone coming in, no cleaning or physical labor! It is what we have prayed for, we realized after being in housekeeping in Texas it wasn't what we wanted and when Craig's shoulders began to give him pain and his arms were going numb, we realized physically he couldn't do it, his doctors told him he will lose the use of his arms permanently if he continued doing that kind of work! We knew that financially we had to do something or we wouldn't be able to continue this lifestyle, especially with the price of gas, also we can only stay in a state campground for 2 weeks and would have to move, well, this way we can stay longer and not have to pay! LIFE IS GOOD! We are signed up for their camphost classes at Higgins lake for two days, they will provide us with a campsite for 4 days free while we attend classes plus all meals for the two days of the classes!  This will also look good on our resume! I will let everyone know the name of the Campgrounds as soon as we are for sure locked in, we have signed the contracts so we know we got them but feel it is best to wait for now! We also have reserved a 10 day stay at Bay City State Park in July with our sons and their families, which will be inbetween gigs, this way we will be close to home and get Craig's veteran's visits taken care of but most of all we will be around the kids,grandkids,family and friends, plus we can take care of business around town also!  We will probably being staying there also as soon as we are done with our classes, our granddaughters birthday party is May 21st and my grandson's 4th birthday is on the 17th, plus my son's birthday on the 11th! So as you can see April is going to be an important month for us!  We have missed my family so much and realize how important quality time is with them, next fall we plan on camphosting in Florida for the winter, not that far from Michigan that way, plus with the price of gas it will be financially more affordable! 
           Well, time to pack up and head out to our next adventure! Until next time God Bless!