Roving Reports by Doug P: 2019-2 Camp Host at Moss Park, Orange County Florida

2019-2

Moss Park, Orange County Florida

loop road through Moss Park campground

Camp Host

From my last post you know that I’ve rented out all of my Rv Lots in St Cloud and I am now about 20 miles north, staying at Moss Park as a camp host. Financially it’s a good move as I’m able to rent out the Rv lot I was staying on ($500 profit minus lot expenses of course) and by being a camp host at Moss Park I’m essentially staying on a campsite that would normally have cost me $500 plus the cost of electric ($75), making for a total of $1,075 in savings and or profit. Not bad for a months change in location.

It’s interesting how a retiree can make money by doing something as simple as changing camping locations, boondocking (free camping), renting out their own Rv lot or doing a short stay as a camp host.

Shelter Coves pool is slowly getting rebuilt
too late for me to enjoy a swim this season

RV Tip:

I’ve discovered over the years that when I do do a camp host job, I prefer only doing it for a month or two at the most and usually in an area I would like to explore more. Many full time Rv-ers only think you can apply to be a camp host if you’re willing to stay for a couple of months, up to 6 months at a time.

I’ve discovered that it never hurts to ask if a place has a camp host vacancy and being up front and saying I’m available for only a month or two at most. And it has worked out for me on numerous occasions that a spot is available for that shorter time frame. Hint: Having a pleasant personality always helps. Saving me money, giving me more time to explore an area and learning about the area from the park and people I’ll be volunteering with.

Now my previous stay here at Moss Park, I was hired specifically to be the evening enforcer of all rules in the park. It became a daunting task and one I didn’t particularly like. This time, I was hired after a quick application, background check completed and given my camp host site.

My duties were not spelled out as I was only given a camp host log to put in the hours I’m on duty, and what ever tasks I accomplished during that time. Examples being: picking up trash, check restrooms, night check, etc. Basically I’m on my own and to be a presence so that if other campers have any questions they can come to my campsite and I can help them as best I can.

The only specific duty I’ve been given is to pick up the site registration cards to be placed on each campsite that’s been rented out as well as remove the old cards as people leave. Even this task is taken over by the park staff if there’s only a small number of cards to be put on sites. Usually during the middle of the week.

Bottom line, I’m staying at an awesome park for a month with light camp host duties and saving money.

Moss Park, surrounded by nature

three boat docks, this one is just for campers

along the canal connecting Lake Mary Jane and Lake Hart

Back at Shelter Cove

You’d think I was already to move on, but things are going on back at Shelter Cove that I needed to take care of and participate in. First off one of my renters lost a key to access our club house and entry gate. It’s a master key and costs $50 to replace. Spent an entire day trying to get a new key.

Later in the day, we had a board meeting and what a meeting it was. Our president doesn’t take any flack from any owners, telling them to sit down and shut up after they’ve said their piece… the big news being that she is pushing for making the community a 55 and older park. Carole’s a real go getter and isn’t going to settle for anything less. Seems that we are already considered a 55 and older community as more than 80% of the community is 55 and older. But it looks like we’ll spend $5,000 to $10,000 to make it official so that the community can keep children and anyone younger than 55 out of the park. What ever happens, I will support the majority of owners, though to be honest, it will reduce the number of people that will be able to rent one of my RV lots. Time will tell what actually happens.

The community pool is continuing to progress, as of this writing, they have poured a rough concrete floor and the outline of the pool is well defined with re-bar and framing material. It will be a much awaited completion for the summer swimming season.

And our laundromat is going through it’s second iteration for electric power upgrades. 1^st it was to be two electric poles to the bldg, then the new board realized the impact of above ground utilities and decided to change course and put the lines back underground where they should have in the first place. Bottom line the electric company is close to “turning on” the electric to the building. it’s been a loss of over $6 to $8,000 in laundry revenues for the park during the outage. A costly timeline of errors. Oh, and while they were digging for the new electric lines, the team cut our water line and the park was without water for a couple days and remains on a boil water notice. Eventually all will be fixed and good as new….

two of my Rv lots with renters

Renter news: I of course have all three rv lots rented. Had a message from a board member requesting one of my renters move their Rv forward about 5 feet as it was parked too close to the road, obstructing the view of vehicles trying to turn onto the main road through the park. All of my rv lots are corner lots.

Received another call from a friend who's a bit paranoid about seeing men’s butt crack. Apparently again one of my renters had his shirt off and bent over, exposing the world to a bit of booty crack. Opps. Forwarded a message to the renter requesting he keep things covered up.

On another note, I rent out my rv lots for $500 + electric. Our park owned lots are currently going for $550 + electric. After the pool and laundry room are back in good order, I’ll no doubt be raising the lot rents after each yearly lease is up.

Canals:

one of the many canals used to drain southern Florida
from Kissimmee and St Cloud area

these canals link the many lakes and low lying areas in Florida
creating thousands of acres of land for development

Florida has a ton of lakes often created by sinkholes. What many don’t realize is that just south of Orlando, starting in the Kissimmee basin area, which is where St Cloud and my Rv community is located was originally covered in swamp land, lakes and the Kissimmee river heading south to Lake Okeechobee. It was drained by the creation of miles and miles of canals connecting all those lakes and water covered lands. Shelter Cove is a part of those canals connecting the Alligator chain of lakes which eventually connects to the Kissimmee River drainage river and canals. Many boaters enjoy being able to travel from lake to lake via all of these canals that literally crisscross Florida south of the Orlando area. And the rest of us like being on dry land created by the drainage of the land we now call home. Even if we can dig down a foot or two and reach water.

One Project a Day.

My last week before heading out it’s finally time to actually implement my one project a day routine. When one is retired, that’s all we have to do you know.

Washed the camper roof and solar panels to squeaky clean.
Greased the camper wheels
Install new shroud over front A/C unit (damaged by trees)
washed the truck, again, I actually did the work myself, not the carwash.
Packed up the outside chairs, rugs, etc.
went to eye Dr appt. disappointed in results, new eye drops didn’t reduce eye pressure, but will try a new eye drop and travel on.
Drain fresh water tanks and refill with fresh water.

Distance Traveled Eustis Fl : 64 miles

Don’t judge me, I just wanted to get out into the country and out of city traffic.

Bonus report addition:

There are so many events occurring throughout Florida and I've discovered that if I sign up by the county I'm in through Facebook, I can find out about all these great activities. A recent one I attended was the Fort Christmas Bluegrass Festival (an Orange County Event)