August to Early September 2023

Maumee Bay State Park, Oregon, Ohio

We had stayed at this campground several times during our travels and were impressed. The campground and amenities are great, as is the location. The park is on Lake Erie not far from Toledo. The campsites are sunny and grassy, the bath house and laundry are spotless, and there are great bike paths to the beach.

On one visit, we chatted with volunteers who encouraged us to consider camphosting. So, we put in our application the very next day. In January, we were accepted as camphosts for August and the first week of September. We had volunteered with Care-a-Vanners on several Habitat projects, but this would be our first time as camphosts at a park.

So what does camphosting entail? Arrangements vary from park to park. At Maumee Bay, our team of volunteers was made up of six couples. Each couple was assigned a number of sites to monitor.

Our volunteer duties included tidying up the sites on our loop, making sure that sites were clean and ready for the next campers.

We weren’t responsible for cleaning the bathrooms. The maintenance crew took care of that daily. We did refill the toilet tissue dispensers on busy days and kept an eye out for issues that required calling maintenance.

Because the campground is so large, we were provided a radio and a golf cart to cover the distances. (This might have been John’s favorite part of the job.)

We quickly learned that this park is super because it’s so well-managed and the volunteers are so dedicated. In exchange for volunteering, our campsite was provided to us at no charge.

Our daily routine usually took about three hours, sometimes longer – especially on busy weekends or if campers stayed until the last minute to check-out. On a few slower days, John did the campsite routine and I helped with weeding the garden areas.

The whole team took turns helping with weekend activities planned for the campers: Friday night bingo, ice cream socials, coffee and donut hours, and kids’ crafts.

The Friends of Maumee Bay, which is the volunteer group that helps support the park, uses the donations generated from these activities for park improvements, such as playground equipment and the community shelter house.

Staying in one spot for a month was new for us, but we really enjoyed ourselves. It was nice not having to break camp every few days and drive on. We also had more time to cook interesting dinners and relax over mealtime. The team was super and we developed some friendships, which we think will be lasting.

Some of the volunteers actually live close by, but they stay at the park for the duration of their volunteer commitment.

Team members were very generous in sharing homemade baked goods (Maggie’s yummy brownies!) and garden bounty. We loved having fresh peppers, plum tomatoes, and basil.

Here’s a photo of our volunteer friend “Fearless Flo,” relocating a (harmless) fox snake away from the Shelter House. An extra-curricular volunteer actvity that Sally won’t be signing up for. Flo and Joel are the folks who gifted us with oodles of delicious tomatoes. Thanks again!

Toledo

We spent some of our down time exploring Toledo. On Thursday evenings in the summer, the Toledo Botanical Garden has outdoor jazz concerts.

Bring a picnic dinner and enjoy great music in a garden for a $10 ticket. What’s not to like?

We also paid a return visit to the Maumee Bay Brewing Company in the old Oliver Hotel (of course we did) and enjoyed their weeknight Happy Hour. Toledo has some great restaurants and breweries.

Marblehead Light

One sunny day, we drove out to Marblehead to see the light house. Across the Bay, we could see Sandusky and the famous Cedar Point Amusement Park.

Back at the Park…

On many evenings, we rode our bikes out to the beach after dinner to enjoy the late day light. The wildflowers and birds along the way made this a lovely routine.

So, our camphosting debut was a success. We’ve already asked to be included again next year!

Next

Now we’re headed to Floyd, Virginia, to help with a Habitat build in a few weeks. More about that, and our stops enroute, soon.