#263 Jordan lake NC, hosting interview

We got a campsite at Jordan Lake for two nights or three nights at Crosswinds Loop C and it was one of the prettiest places you could ask for. It was right on top of a hill overlooking the lake.

Our interview would pertain to Loop A and I didn't know anything when we first jumped into this but it's a non-electric loop. This would be a plus for us by the time we got through with the experience. Because most people passing through want electricity, they would always choose loop B or C. This meant loop A would be empty all the time until Friday and Saturday nights. We always had the whole place to ourselves. It was great.

We met with Erin over at the Jordan Lake State Park office ranger station. I think it was somewhere around noon. She had already mentioned you have the job but she just felt like I need to meet you before we lock it in.

I probably went into it with the attitude that they were going to check us out and ask his tough questions. Maybe if we didn't pass, we wouldn't get the job, but it was pretty easy.

She asked us if we were able to inhale and exhale and if we had feet and a car and we said yeah, we can do all that. She said okay, you're hired.

I mentioned to her once again that I knew that the best way to utilize me would be as an electrician/ handyman. Using these skills would be the most ideal way for me to serve.

She was friendly about it but she said, well we appreciate that, but what we're actually looking for is someone to clean the bathrooms.

I said okay.

She told us a few things about how things are supposed to go and gave us the keys to the bathroom cleaning closet. We had mentioned before and repeated that since we're selling our house in Wilmington, we need just a little time to straighten the house as we've been in Florida. We asked if we start May 1st and she said yes.

We stayed at Jordan Lake for a few nights and then headed to Wilmington to get the house more ready to sell. We needed to tidy up some storm damage and anything that our grounds guy Felix had missed along the way.

It would be worth mentioning that the reason we came to Jordan lake for what would be 5 months is that our son Ben had decided to be Mini-Me.

Something out about us describing our adventures in the RV inspired him that maybe he would like to do the same. Maybe he could do find a way to make a living as a telecommuter using just the internet signal and a laptop. I know there are jobs out there like that.

He decided that he wanted to buy a school bus and convert it into a Class A RV Diesel Pusher.

Turns out there's a whole subculture about that. They call them Skoolies. I wanted to support the idea and to be helpful but we would need to live in the Raleigh area.

Being a campground host was appealing because first of all it's free rent but it allows you to stay in one place for a very long time. The other alternative is a maximum of 14 days at any state park then you move to somewhere else. Moving every 14 days for 6 months would be a chore. The other alternative would be a trailer park and that has not appealed to me in the past.

As I began to think about trying to find a hosting job in Raleigh, I reminded then our Son that once I do this, he had better go forward with the bus idea because I was doing it for his benefit.

The whole thing worked out fine and I was able to be very helpful with him mostly on weekends.

Journal entry

April 17, 2018, ·

India and I would like to announce that we officially got hired yesterday. We will be Campground hosts at Jordan Lake Crosswinds Campground. It's a volunteer position and we like living in the woods with all this serenity. There's always a flip side to these things so our obligation is to make sure the bathrooms are okay once a day. I laugh at myself for being willing to be a janitor so I can live rent-free but I think it'll be good for my humility. They say it's a 6-week minimum hitch starting May 1st but the tone of the park ranger (s) is that we can stay until winter.