Shortly after posting our resume on the Workampers website, we got a reply from the managers of Timber Ridge Campground in Amherst, OH. We found out that they were wintering in northwestern Florida less than 100 miles from where we were in Alabama, so we arranged to meet them for lunch about half way. They told us about the job & campground & we decided to commit for the summer of 2012. Discovering that Glenda & Stan were Christians made our decision even easier. They wanted us there before May 1 so that enabled us to be able to take our time on the way to Ohio. Our first stop was in Columbus, GA so we could spend Easter with Mike, Michelle & little Abbey, who by that time was about 8 months old. Before that, I had gone up for a week to help when she had tubes put in her ears. But it was sure good to see them again for another week.
Our next stop was Cincinnati where we stayed at a Hamilton County campground. We visited with Jan & Dave and they also came over to see us at the campground. Next stop was Athens County to see Carole.
We stayed at Happy Hills Campground outside of Nelsonville. What a hill we had to climb to get there! But we had a good time visiting Carole as well as cousin Esther. We brought Carole out to the campground for dinner one Sunday just so she could get an idea of what our "home on wheels" looked like as well as see how we could live in so many different areas or states! We also visited cousin Anita's family in Heath, OH.
Soon we were on our way to Timber Ridge. It was a little disappointing as we drove in. Let's just say it was a work in progress. Behind to office building was an old metal open air building. Turns out this used to be a big dairy farm and that was where they did the milking. Now they use it for bingo and potluck dinners, etc.
There was also a good size pond as well as an indoor swimming pool! This turned out to be one of my favorite features, as I was able to do my water aerobics 2 or 3 days a week
We also went into Amherst 1 or 2 times a week to attend SilverSneakers classes. We also found the Amherst Library to be one of our hotpots.
We only worked 10 hours each to make up our 20 hours for workamping. We usually worked all day Saturday and half day on Sunday. They served a sandwich dinner on Friday eve for $2! It was nice for the campers coming in on Fri night for the weekend. It was a seasonal campground....mostly families from the area. They also served breakfast on Sat & Sun AM's for $2!!!! We collected the $$ on Sat. Also Bill was the ice cream man for Sat. afternoons. Looking back it was probably the easiest job we've had. They used
a Campground Manager software, so that was good to be able to put on our resume.
The other great thing is that one of the couples there offered to teach a "clown school", so I said why not...
And so my clown character was born! Glenda aka "Joy" and one of the other workampers Bob as well as a few other adults and about 4 youngsters took classes for 9 weeks. At the end of our class we put on a show for the campground. It was a lot of fun and we all got official certificates!
One couple that we met there became friends and we still communicate occasionally by email. We also found a great church...Church of the Open Door and joined a small group that met at the pastor's home. We also helped out with their Vacation Bible School while there.
