Our First CampHost Position

We finally have our first Camp Host assignment. Traveling to all these great Florida State Parks has been exciting and fun. If a little tense at times with some of the money problems and repairs we have had to do in the last 4 months. But we like this Full-Timers stuff and wanted to see what the Camp Hosting thing is all about. We have seen them at every camping area we have been to and have even been able to talk to a few of them. Being a volunteer at one of these parks has a few advantages. One of those is not having to pay for site fees. Another is that most (not all) has sewers available for the camp hosts only. As you may have ascertained from our previous posts that is one thing we really appreciate. There are only 10 RV camping areas in the State of Florida Park systems that offer sewer connections on site and most of those only have a limited amount available. You can see our reviewsabout that to find out more.

From what we have read and been told by the Volunteer Coordinators we have talked to a Camp Host mainly keeps the sites clean between visitors, cleans the bathrooms (but not at all of them), cleans up debris, maybe works at the Ranger Station, Museums, or Gift Shops (where available), and assists other campers when needed. The assignments are generally around 3 or 4 months but can be less or more depending on the needs of the Park. Each Camp Host must agree to at least 20 to 30 hours a week service and usually alternating weekends. We hope this will be an opportunity for us to save a little money, get some experience and possibly a recommendation for the next position we apply for.

Our first position is with TH Stone Memorial St. Joseph’s Peninsula State Park in the Northwest Region at Port St. Joe, Florida. We have to be there on July 1st and will stay all of July and August. Granted, this is in the middle of hurricane season but we are hoping that the season is light and will not get started until after we leave. The park has 116 camping sites. Of those, 8 are Cabins; 87 are RV or Tents; 10 are RV sites only; and 11 are for tents only. The Cabin area faces St. Joseph Bay and the two camping areas are called Shady Pines is located in the middle of the peninsula and Gulf Breezes faces the Gulf of Mexico. We don’t know which area we will be in yet but look forward to it either way.