When we arrived at the Kilchis River County Park in Tillamook, Oregon, we were looking forward to a month of new experiences. The first experience on our agenda, however, was to do laundry. I set the wringer up on the back of our trailer, and the girls jumped in to play in the water. It is hard to believe they can have so much fun doing what most people would consider a “Chore”. They each take turns using the Breathing Mobile Washer, feeding the clothes through the wringer, and cranking the handle. You have never heard so much giggling and laughing over laundry in your life.
We were scheduled to work in this campground for the month of May, 2013. It is a “Volunteer” position for 20 hours per week in exchange for your site, which includes water, electric, and sewer hookups. We kept 4 bathrooms clean as part of our time, but the majority of my time was spent mowing and weed eating. On average, I spent close to 15 hours each week on a mower, the upper field I had to mow was probably larger than a football field. I don’t mind running equipment, so I fit right in to this position nicely.
The girls had fun getting to know the new critters that filled the forrest. The banana slugs were an interesting surprise, they could be found all over the place early in the morning dew. It was interesting to have a slug large enough you could watch it eat, and we became very efficient at spotting slug poop in a variety of settings. We learned, after taking the photos of the slug on her hand, that this particular slug slime is next to impossible to remove. It took us almost an hour to rid her hands of the very persistent slime. Dawn dish soap, Zest bar soap, Gojo hand cleaner, and Kerosene were all useless, finally, brake parts cleaner did the job.
I had a little fun myself metal detecting and fishing. I didn’t catch much more than this one trout, but I had fun trying. We didn’t find any old coins in the area, but we found several dollars worth in the mulch around the playground. I gave Lydia the opportunity to detect in the best spot (under the monkey bars) and she found almost 3 dollars worth of quarters in that one spot alone. The scenery around the campground was great, the river flowing below the bus made a nice soundtrack to sleep to.
Chas enjoyed the peace and quiet the campground provided, she had several “Favorite” trees to catch a break under. Looking up through the branches to see an occasional Bald Eagle was a nice bonus.
I will leave you with a short video that has a little bit of everything. Fishing, Bald Eagles, Cold Water Swimming… What more could you ask for. Keep in mind, before you start laughing at the noises I make while appearing to mimic a beached whale on the other side of the river, the water was 54 degrees, so I am justified in making noises.
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