The sublime summertime beauty of this wooded bowl is beguiling. Beyond that though, I find huge happiness in watching the families who gather here. Some come unaccompanied by kinfolks, a nuclear family, a couple adults and a child or two or three. Some come for a family reunion with aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents. My favorites are those with young children and bicycles, tricycles, training wheels, scooters. Like the two families pictured above, camped in neighboring campsites, their trucks laden with wheeled vehicles in a wide range of sizes. Unloaded and encamped, they pedal up the hill or race around the paved loop that encircles this part of the larger campground. Laughing. Whooping. Hollering. Panting– invariably at least one is panting.
My role is to afford them a safe, clean, friendly space to be what they came here to be… family.
I dig it.
Nice. You’re making Vivian jealous!
So, one day these campers will be telling their grandkids about the Jolly Caretaker from their vacation back in ’23, instead of remembering the grumpy ol’ man that kept yelling ‘keep off my grass you little varmits’! You’re representing Texas well, sir.
I doubt they’ll remember me, but they will remember the fun they had at Willow Bay, like I remember camping with my parents and sibs at Beavers Bend (back when it was basically a river and undeveloped campground!).
Remind me, we need to make Bill a shirt that says “Jolly Ol’ Caretaker.” Love it.
That is my favorite part of the job too. To see the extended families all together is heartwarming. I remember camping as a kid with my family and their/our friends. We were all in our tents and there were no hookups. Lots of dirt roads, swimming in the river and campfires. Bacon every morning cooked at the picnic table. God it must have been tons of work to get us all there with all the food and equipment necessary for tent camping. I still prefer to cook out of my van and be outside if it isn’t cold. Sadly I have found that too much campfire smoke makes me kind of nauseous now. I love my Solo Mesa XL for that reason.