Yesterday we finally saw the sun with only a stray shower. The campground was mostly full. All sites were reserved but there were a couple where people did not come in or had left early. However, rules are if a site is reserved, even if it is not occupied, others can’t move into the site.

We celebrated an easy day, the return of the sun, and our second-last day by taking showers and going into Montrose for beer and pizza. Showers may have been more important, but the pizza was great.

Today was our last day. We officially ended our duties at about 6:00 this evening when the volunteer coordinator stopped by and made sure we returned all the equipment and stuff that was handed out to us in May. We said good-byes to some of the other hosts and then got back to the job of packing for the road. Tomorrow the plan is to get out of here fairly early which means anytime before noon.

Today we had 36 sites to clean. On our wedding anniversary day, August 9, we had 38 sites to attend to. So, today was a piece of cake. And, Shannon says it isn’t the number of sites to clean but how messy are the sites. The first site we cleaned was a colossal mess. We thought, “Oh boy it is going to be a long day.” Actually that was the worse site, and it was good to get it out of the way early on.

We leave you with some photographs of how we clean the sites.

First, the tools of our trade. We travel around in a tired, electric golf cart that anyone can outrun on the uphill. The two most important tools are the shovel and the picker. The products from those two tools go into the metal bucket which is then dumped into the galvanized trash can. We have wire brushes and scrapers to clean grills. And, for the final touch, a blower to leave the sites looking pristine clean if one does not look too closely.

The biggest job is shoveling out the fire pits. Sometimes they are heaping full of partially burnt wood. If folks have camped for a number of days sometimes we might haul multiple buckets of charred wood and ashes. The worse situation is when trash and food is thrown in the fire pits with the expectations that the fire will consume the stuff and it will disappear. It doesn’t. It just adds to the chore of shoveling out the fire pit. Marshmallows are the worse…

But when we are done, the pit is empty waiting for the next camper to fill it up.

One of the worse things to clean is the grill. Most people don’t use them or if they do, they put something on the grill to cook on rather than on the grill itself. But when folks choose to cook on the grill, they usually leaved behind a significant portion of their meat. It’s our job, then, to make sure the grills shine.

We have found that by putting some of the ash on the grill provides additional grit when scraping and makes the job easier.

Sometimes Shannon gets so emotional when she faces a dirty grill. No, actually she is standing downwind when I shoveled ashes onto the grill. This job has all kinds of hazards.

After ashes are applied, the scraping begins followed by more shoveling of ashes. Please note the two handed scrapping technique employed by Shannon. This technique is only for professionals. Please don't try this yourself at home.

After reading and seeing what we have been doing all summer, you can finally understand what all of our education and careers have prepared us for.

See you on the road tomorrow.