Day 1 Monday May 1, 20223 We departed home at 7 AM, stopped in Wallace at McDonald's for breakfast, then headed for Stone Mountain State Park for our 8th year working as Volunteer Campground Hosts. We stopped again in Greensboro at the Farmers Market for a break and check to see if any fresh vegetables were available. Didn't see anything we wanted other than the $10 bill Lena found on the ground.
We arrived at the campground just after 1PM, setup, ate lunch, rested for awhile then picked up our keys, radio, etc from Jackie at the Contact Station and checked out the campground and put out the reservation signs for Tuesday and Wednesday. Normally the hosts switch out on Tuesday or Wednesday which are the hosts days off but the April hosts wanted to leave on either Sunday or Monday so we agreed to arrive on Monday. There is only one other host couple that has been working here longer than we have. Usually the host age out and can't do the work or sell their camper and have to quit.
It has been really windy and cool all day.
Day 2 Tuesday May 2, 2023 It is still cool and windy but the sun is out so it is a little warmer today. We decided to have breakfast at the Circle L near Sparta. They make huge pancakes and this morning I had a desire for some country ham and a pancake. I only get one pancake because they are as large as a dinner plate. I didn't know that the first time we ate here and I ordered two pancakes and some of the locals that were sitting at the next table laughed at me when they came out.
After we had breakfast we drove on into Sparta to try out a new Coffee Shop called The Gathering Place. They have lots of gift items, women's clothing and about any kind of coffee you can imagine and some pastries. The coffee and cinnamon buns were good, not the best we have had but okay. Better than the other coffee shop in town we normally go to. Yea I know we are picky when it comes to a good Latte. They had several small round tables with two or three chairs at each table. I didn't like the chairs at all. The metal bar that was the back of the chair hurt my back.
We left the coffee shop and rode out into the country on the twisting mountain roads to look at the scenery and take photos. It seems the leaves have come out earlier than the last two years we were here in May. We rode part of the Blue Ridge Parkway on the way back to the campground. They are preparing to do some major repaving and repairs on 75 miles of the parkway from hwy 21 near Sparta to near Grandfather Mountain. It is a 3 year, 98 million project. It sure needs updating because the payment is getting in bad shape, lots of potholes.
After returning to the campground I did some cleanup of dead limbs on the hosts site. The last hosts didn't clean it up very good before they left.
Day 3 Wednesday May 3, 2023 This morning we decided to go to North Wilkesboro to try a new coffee shop there named Anchor Coffee. We were disappointed they didn't have any pastries to go with the coffee. We were pleased they served the Lattes in a regular mug and did the fancy decoration on the top but the coffee wasn't as hot as it should have been in our opinion. We chose to set on a old couch because every chair had a flat wood seat and flat wood seat back that didn't look comfortable at all. Picky, Picky!!
We were still hungry after drinking our coffee so we went to The Coffee House restaurant to get a regular breakfast. Then onto Walmart and Aldi for a few items. On the way back to the campground we did some more exploring on back roads.
It is still windy and cool today, about 50 degrees but the forecast for tomorrow looks better. We hope so because we get back into the groove tomorrow and start working the campground.
Day 4 Thursday May 4, 2023 Nothing exciting today, just our normal routine. We put out the reservation signs in the morning, came back to our motorhome and had breakfast, then went back out and cleaned sites, talked to the campers. The weather was much nicer today.
Day 5 Friday May 5, 2023 Great weather today, warm and sunshine. Approximately 60 RVs and tent campers coming in today for the weekend. We have 88 sites here and most will be occupied tonight if all the reservations come in. Normally some make reservation and don't show up and don't cancel their reservation, which could give them a refund if they cancel in time.
Day 6 Saturday May 6, 2023 Another good weather day, we worked in the campground doing our normal duties, then I worked in the Contact Station checking in camper, selling supplies so Jackie, that runs the contact station Thursday through Monday could relieve Mary at the Visitor Center so Mary could go to lunch. On weekends we play musical chairs for a while.
I found a $20 bill on the street near one of the campsites. I asked the people nearby had they lost any money and they had not so I showed it to Lena and got to looking at it and noticed something odd about the bill. It had the word COPY printed in two places on the front. Then I noticed the small writing where it states that it is Legal Tender stating it was NOT Legal Tender but money used in Movies.
Later I gave it to Jackie and had her fooled until I told her to look at it close. Anyone in a store that did not look at the bill close could be easily fooled.
Day 7 Sunday May 7, 2023 Another nice day but we did get a hard shower of rain mid afternoon for about 30 minutes.
Most of the weekend campers departed today so we had lots of campsites to clean before those with reservations today comes in. We try to clean and rake all the vacated sites before the next camper comes but we don't always get to all of them before they come in. Check-in time is 4PM but lots of campers come much earlier than that. If the site is vacant we allow them to go ahead and setup unlike some commercial campgrounds. Now some of the commercial campgrounds will charge up to $20 extra if you arrive before stated check-in time even if the site is vacant.
We did the musical chairs thing again at lunch time.
Just before dark we saw 5 deer out in front of our motorhome. They don't normally come out when a lot of people are hear but most had departed in our section of the campground at that time.
Even though we have a large RV our site, the host site, is located in the Tent section. Years ago there was only a tent section at this park and the host handled the check-in, firewood sales, etc. so the host site was in the tent section and remained there after the other two sections were added to the campground. Loop A is what I call the tent section. There are no utility hookups in this Loop except our site is full hookup, only water hydrants spaced around the loop. Some of the sites can handle a small RV. Loop B is for RVs and have electricity and water hookups, two sites are full hookup and are designated handicap, but anyone can reserve them. Loop C is similar to Loop B but only has water hydrants scattered around the loop. We are glad that the host site is where it is because we feel like we would be bother a lot if we were located right where most of the RVs were. We are somewhat isolated from the busy part of the campground.
Day 8 Monday May 8, 2023 We only have 8 reservations today plus maybe some “Walkins”. After we did the reservations and had breakfast we cleaned some sites that we didn't get to yesterday and cleaned some fire pits and spruced up the 4 group sites.
The group sites are normally used by groups from churches or the scouts. Mostly dozens of young people with adults leaders. They usually leave less trash on the sites that the adults in the regular camp sites. But to be honest most of the campers don't leave much trash, just small pieces of paper, bread ties, cigarette butts, etc. It seems that hershey bars are the favorite candy for the campers that come here because we find a lot of pieces of hershey bar wrappers.
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