Bushnell, FL - Week of 9/25 - 10/1/2011

We didn't do any sight seeing this week since I'm still pretty weak. It is so weird eating a low fiber diet after eating a healthy high fiber diet for so long but only one more week than can start adding fiber back to my diet. I kept having dizzy spells but after some internet research found that this is probably caused by either (or both) of the Flagyl or Levaquin that I was on.  Bruce worked some extra hours to cover for me on Monday and Tuesday then we were off Wed-Friday.  I volunteered to work the gate Friday night since they were having an event at the lodge and then worked our turn at the gate for the week-end.  OK, they say trouble comes in three's, now my dad has a kidney stone!! Praying for you Dad!

Fellow camp host, Brenda, taught me how to bead some bracelets. The first I did was a spiral rope chain that will be a present for our granddaughter, Hayden. The second that I did was a peyote pattern, my favorite pattern! Brenda is a great teacher and very patient! Ready to start another one and hope that I can maybe sell a few here and there. 

Bushnell, Florida - Dade Battlefield Historic State Park



Always raining when we pull into Florida!

We got our usual greeting when driving into Florida - a downpour on I-75! Got into Dade Battlefield Historic State Park and we were met at the gate by the Park Manager, Bruce Whiting. A friendly, outgoing man and he even escorted us back to our site that will be home until Thanksgiving - that is the plan anyway! Got all set up, met the other camphosts, Jim and Brenda, our neighbors and Hector. Spent our 2nd afternoon clearing some debris that was in front of our site, didn't want to look at that for 2 months and what a workout! Bruce W. dropped our schedule off to us - I work the office or the gate 12 hours a week and my Bruce will work the field or gate 12 hours. This looks like it going to be a great place to spend a couple of months! 



Debris before we cleared it




Bruce clearing debris





Road America Raceway - Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin



Pulling "Eve" through the tunnel

 What a great experience! We arrived Tuesday, August 16, and couldn't have asked for a friendlier welcoming! From the gate guard to the office staff to the security staff, just wonderful. Lori, the Hospitality Director was supposed to be out on maternity leave but happened to come in for a meeting and helped get us squared away. Lori had an escort take us to our site since the track is so big we would have had a difficult time finding it. Then Dawn, the Security Director, gave us a tour of the track after we go set up. Had no idea that the track was so big! Bob, the guy that posted the opening on RV.net, and his wife, Kathy, arrived. She attempted to tell us where, how, when, and why but it was just too much to grasp without actually seeing it and doing it. The other camphosts, Mike and Jill, came by to meet and greet us. A very nice couple who offered to show us the ropes the next day.


Hard at work

 
Getting the hang of what we are supposed to do and it was a good thing - camper gate was opened at 3 pm Wednesday. We were assigned the blue, red and yellow camping areas. When the campers arrived we would greet them and verify that they were in the correct camping sites and had their wrist bands on. We were impressed at how most campers were so friendly and kept their sites clean.

We only had an electric site and thought we'd got enough water when we pulled in but we started running low. Not a big problem since the bath house was right across from us and it was always clean.




Our site in the Carousel section

 

By Saturday morning we were pretty much done with our jobs and could enjoy the race. We were allowed to use the golf cart that the track had provided to us as campground hosts. You don't just stay in one place to watch the race! People would ride or walk all around the track and watch from different corners or stretches since the track has 14 turns and is over 4 mile long. Our grandson, Owen had asked for an picture and autograph of a famous person. We stopped at Jim Norton's trailer - what a nice guy! Went out of his way to be friendly and accommodating!
 As we pulled out Sunday morning, we were so impressed by how clean the camping areas were given that most were there for 5 days. Here's the link to Road America - hope to return next year! roadamerica.com






We were provided lunch daily!

 



Getting autograph from Jim Norman for Owen



  

Enjoying a drink at the Patron tent



Loyd Park, Grand Prairie, Texas

We arrived May 2 for at least a 2 month camp host assignment at Loyd Park and found it to be a great park system ran by the city of Grand Prairie, Texas. Bruce had seen an ad for Loyd Park and contacted them to see if they utilized camp hosts and, if so, did they have any openings. Needless to say, they did and here we are! We were very impressed with the cleanliness and friendliness of the whole region! The staff and other camp hosts at Loyd Park were very nice and worked with us regarding scheduling around visits to Lawton for appointments. We worked at both Loyd Park and Lynn Creek Park (a day use only park about 5 miles away). The Loyd gate was very busy and required being able to do a lot since we were responsible for collecting vehicle entry fees, registering campers, cabins, pavilions and the club house plus answering the phone after 4:30 and all day on week-ends. Lynn Creek was mostly just collecting vehicle entry fees so this place was our preference and Patti would schedule us there, when possible. We were in site 106, which was a full hook up site and great tree coverage, which was important when the temperatures climbed over 100. We asked about helping keep the park clean, since we enjoy getting out and about. We were given a loop to maintain, which most of the time was not much work at all. Of course there are a very few campers that are messy and it might take 1 hour just to clean up those sites.
Stacy, Gary and Owen came to visit us for a few day and had a wonderful time with them! Set up the tent for them to "rough it" but Owen wasn't into roughing it so he stayed in the RV with us. Went to Trader's Village with them, huge place with a little bit of everything.
Bruce and I went to Canton's First Monday and was much more impressed with it versus Trader's Village. Need to come back in the spring or fall, it was too dang hot to walk around very much!
We had a great time at Loyd Park and hope to go back there some day!