Sep06
Posted on Sep 6 by Ruth Davis
We are in our last four weeks of camp hosting at Fool Hollow Lake State park in the cool Arizona mountains. The wonderful monsoon storm season has passed, though we do still get a surprise afternoon rain shower every few days. The campground was full of happy campers for the Labor Day weekend, and now things are slowing down and we are blessed to still be in this beautiful, serene place. And I am beginning to make plans for what’s next. We’ll be heading down to the valley in October for two months of Big City things, including Marika’s cataract surgeries. We’ll camp for a few days between here and there, to slowly acclimate to the changes in terrain and temperature. We were planning to head to the Texas Gulf Coast in December, but now we’re not sure where we’ll go after Phoenix. And we don’t need to know yet. For now, we just need to enjoy where we are, right here, right now. We’ve been going into town in the afternoons after work, checking...
Aug23
Posted on Aug 23 by Ruth Davis
It is with the heaviest heart that I share that we had to put Mabel to sleep last Friday. We celebrated her 14th birthday on August 1, and a week later, she was suddenly moving slower, eating less, sleeping more. Her belly was distended and she was all wobbly and couldn’t easily get up and down. We are not ones to prolong an animal’s pain and suffering, even though the loss is so painful. And so we made the decision. One of the Park Rangers recommended the vet where his wife works in the office. She assured us that we’d be in a quiet room and would be well taken care of. But it was not the experience we were hoping for. Mostly because we were there for more than an hour and a half, doing a lot of waiting. We waited for the special room to be ready, waited for the first tech, waited to see the doctor, more waiting for the paperwork, then the catheter, and even after she was sedated, more and more waiting. And the...
Aug09
Posted on Aug 9 by Ruth Davis
We are in our fourth week as full-on camp hosts, and have finally settled into the rhythm of our jobs. In addition to bathroom and camp site cleaning, we are available for camper questions, do golf cart rounds to check on things, and, two days a week we sell firewood and ice. Unlike last time when we felt an urgency to get our work done, this time we’re not waiting on edge for our campers to vacate their spots so we can clean. Partly because we are now living IN the loop we’re cleaning, so we can see when folks pull out. But more, because I understand that some campers are going to wait until check out time to actually pull out. Maybe even later. Yes, someone else might be waiting for the spot, but technically, check IN time isn’t until 2. So there is time. Some of the other hosts are a bit more edgy about it. Because they want to be done with their work so they can do their own thing. And yep, that used to...
Aug08
Posted on Aug 8 by Ruth Davis
We are back at Fool Hollow Lake State Park, settled into our new spot, and today was our first day back to work. When we were hosts here in April and May, we were the Rover Hosts, only responsible for cleaning bathrooms and camp sites and helping out the other hosts on their days off. This time we are full-fledged camp hosts in the biggest loop in the campground. Our duties include cleaning 8 bathrooms, taking care of the 30 sites in our loop, and answering camper questions. AND on Wed and Thurs we also sell wood and ice between 9am and 7pm. AND we have to check the cooling fan in the storage room three times a day AND do drive around patrols. And if we leave the park during our scheduled work days, we need to notify the rangers. This is much different than our Rover jobs where we did our work, and then we were done. Marika keeps saying it will be good for us to be so busy. I sure hope she’s right. We’re driving...
Jul11
Posted on Jul 11 by Ruth Davis
We’ve been very restless here at the Hon-Dah RV Park. There’s not a lot to do in this small town, and, even though it’s cooler than Phoenix, the 90° afternoons make it tough to be outside during the majority of the day. We haven’t connected with any of the other 400 campers here, and the forest is very quiet. I worked a shift at the Love Kitchen, but didn’t feel welcomed or needed there, and I wasn’t finding any other interesting volunteer opportunities. I tried to tell myself that all of this free time and space was ideal for writing my next book, but I kept hitting so much resistance. I talked with Marika about getting back on the road, but it’s still pretty darn hot in most of the country. And then I wondered if traveling was just a distraction from something bigger I am supposed to be transforming right here in this quiet uncomfortableness. And we really do have it pretty good here. It’s very affordable, the dogs can run free in the forest, there are no...
Jul04
Posted on Jul 4 by Ruth Davis
For the last two weeks, Marika has been down in the valley helping a friend navigate a new phase of her cancer journey. I stayed up here in the mountains with the dogs, offering long-distance support and compassion during this very difficult situation. I’ve enjoyed the time alone. I’m used to living by myself and I’m capable of all things with the RV. But it’s also been eye-opening to notice how often I’d complain about Marika, when really, they were things about myself that I was not liking. Living so close with another person, you become big mirrors for each other. Without Marika here 24/7, I was forced to look at my own self and claim some of the things that I had been blaming on her. Like my boredom. My weight. My lack of lust for life. I journaled a little and cried a bit, but mostly I distracted myself with the first seven seasons of Top Chef, even though I’d already seen them. I took many walks with the dogs and found a new way to...
