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June 21 We are well into our camp hosting gig and it has been uneventful so far. Been kind of cool and lots of rain. Just what the people of Idaho love, or they must. I think after it being snowy and cold all winter this is like nice for them. We filled up for Memorial weekend and people enjoyed themselves. This  campground and boat launch is mostly used by the locals. As in both UT and ID people who came out with a 5th wheel and a boat on behind to camp and fish. People heading to Yellowstone and points north and west rush right on by looking for bigger adventures a they have limited vacation time.  But when one of those (who are not in a hurry) do find this place they tend to stay extra days as it is so peaceful here. Last weekend we had our first pooper in on of the Johns who thought it would be cool the poop on the floor in the corner. If they thought we would have to clean it up they were fooled as we don't clean Johns so the next morning the BLM maintenance man had to take care of it. We didn't know it happened since he told us of it. Since it ws a busy weekend a couple of the Johns ran short of toilet paper which we have extra so can replace it.. We were told of the shortage as we have never run out before so don't check them very often as the regular maintence pweron usaully makes sure all is well.  Now for the pooper maybe they were getting back for that. I guess it goes with the terrority. I follow a forum on facebook that camp hosts post to, and this pooping thing is quite common. Who knew Now looking forward to the 4th of July. Since it lands on Wednesday don't know how that will effect us I know we will have people for at least one event as the locals in what we call the village across the dike road (see pic below)  throw a HUGE fireworks show. Several richies have summer homes out here and spend big buks to compete with each other and the fireworks go on for housrs, No kidding. Bigger than most large cities shows. And we and the campground is higher up overlooking it all. Have heard it may on the Saturday before the 4th but not sure so will have to wait to see. Last year it went on for several nights. First Moose today..... We are camp hosts in Idaho at Blackfoot Reservoir. It is wise to watch your step when exiting the MH.  When we first looked out the front window of the MH it was right up next to the car and had walked through our campsite. I think it was looking at our blow up hot tub looking for a drink as in the last picture it went to the water faucet. Not smart enough to press the lever down to turn it on. Now the reservoir is full of water so not a problem. Later they go out in the water and eat the aquatic floating plants. They can walk across most of it here and love the water. They are Moose after all. Later saw there were two of them eating from a willow tree. They move like they own the place, which they do. I talked about the blow up hot tub.  A sneek photo of Terry right now out enjoying it. Pic taken from inside the MH through a window. It's a rough gig but somebody has to do it. May 2018 We have arrived at our summer comp hosting gig at Blackfoot Reservoir just north of Soda Springs, ID. We were here last summer and decided to come back. Still not all set up as we need to drag out the blow-up hot tub and get it filled with water and make it like hot. See the last post for all the info on the MH in the picture we bought.. We had to be here by May 10 so we took off from the Tucson area right as the temps were going to hit 100. A month early for it to get that warm. On up through northwest AZ to Los Vegas. We were having a bit of overheating and stopped in Cedar City at a Cummins dealer after asking on the web what might be wrong. The consensus was the radiator may need power washed to make it run cooler and also for me to down shift when going up hills so as to keep the RPMS up to keep it cooled.  After the power wash it did run cooler and will clean it more from the inside later on. This seems to be a common issue with diesel pushers. Anyway we made it here watching colsely the rearview camera on the car bouncing alone back on the new car dolly. Stopping several times to retighten the straps that tie doen the front wheels. That's a first for me pulling a car behind. But it went well and even turning tight corners all was good. It is a pain to hook up though. The weather is a whole lot different up here in ID than AZ. Sort of cool as in cold and afternoon storms. We have lost power twice in the last three days. I now have like a direct line to the power company. But not to worry just start our 8KW diesel generator and hang tight. You need to run these things to keep them working well anyway. Now it is Tuesday night and this is Memorial Holiday this weekend and our busiest time of the year. These people think it's summer when the temp gets above 40 me thinks. And the fishing season is early, as later as this is a reservoir the level will drop with irrigation and then the the fishing goes downhill. SO this is a no reservation or site holding (first come first served) campground. BUT they will come out and drop their campers and take off and then come back on Friday to claim the site. So we have to question them when they show up and ask if they are going to inhabit the site the first night. Some like to just come out and put a paid tag on the site without even bringing a camper. That gets the registration pulled so someone else can pull in to take it.  And people think this camp hosting thing is easy. Most people are great but it only takes a few to ruin it for all, esp. the host. After doing this last year we now think we have heard all the excuses, but always room for more WTF things campers will try to pull.  But that goes with the territory and we learned so much last year we are a little more prepared this time. The reservoir is way up this year much highter than even last year and the booat dock and ramp in a muddy mess. Boaters are not happy and we hope to get gravel laid down before the weekend. A contractor close by is working on that, who we have become good friends with.  One of the reasons we came back is there is a summer home area right next to this area and we have become good friends with some of them.  They throw a 4th of July celebration that rivals may BIG cities and all done by private persons. It goes on for hours. And we are up on a hill in the campground to watch it all.  Oh and did I say we do NOT have to clean the Johns. The BLM comes and does that along with mowing and firepit cleaning. Now my ad for this BLM campground whic is on my main national website www.hitchitch.com   I do this as this is a very under used campground . Mostly used by locals.  But it is on the HW to Jackson, WY Traveling in S. E. Idaho this summer?  Come visit BLM Blackfoot Reservoir east of  Pocatello on US 30 near famous Lava Hot Springs. Paved road off HW 34 The shortcut to Jacson Hole which the tour busses take. Developed campground with fishing, picnicking, boating. 16 developed w/shelters picnic tables and 14 dispersed campsites. Camping is $10/night ($5/w Golden Access/Age) add $5 for electric hookups. Dispersed sites $5 ($2.50 w/GA) fire rings, vault toilets,Day Usere $5 Accessible fishing, parking lots, Potable water, and a dump station ($5 or free with campsite)  15 miles north of Soda Springs, ID X Marks to spot. Several big rig friendly pull throughs.  We at Hitchitch.com are the camp hosts again this year.  We even have moose wonder through the campground.  See this link for campground pictures It has been raining all day but the sun has come out. As it was windy the boat dock  blew together so making it unusable. That never happended last year. So it's always somthing new. Called the BLM Manager  (that's what we do) and he will have the maintenance guy look into it tomorrow. If it doesn't get corrected we are going to have lots of unhappy boaters this weekend.  The mud hole is not normal as just a few feet in it is cement. But never have you had to wade to get to the dock bays. Now there is an old boat launch that is good for one boat at a time. So  that can work in a pinch. Update this is how it looks this AM.  So come on out boaters. There is  cement  under all that. Just talked to several campers who have been fishing and report great results of big Rainbow Trout. So the fishing is good, get your boats out here.  We will try to keep the dock open and remember there is a old dock that may be better to launch from.

This is Idaho and a big weekend of campers, and last year we had several campers come out on Wednesday or sooner and drop units for use on the weekend. But so far that has not happened. We shall see.  We even have several that are here for the week and leaving on Friday which will open up sites for the holiday campers. We are now doing a stop by for a pre setup interview asking if the camper is going to occupy the site one the the first night. That way we can inform them not to finish unhooking and should remove their unit if they are just dropping off their units for later use.   This is a first come first serve campground . No holding sites.  We really get excited when someone comes and puts a registration tag on the site without a camper and expect to come back later in the week. In that case their registration tag is pulled so someone else can use the site.. This all gets tricky trying to keep everyone happy, as camp hosts we are here to provide a positive experience as these lands  are owned by us all and we are here to help all enjoy them. Now if we could just get some nicer weather.... Last year snow was on the ground. when we got here. It will warm up here soon as it was so hot last year we had to install water misters outside. Even at 6200 ft. It seems the weather all over the upper mid west and northwest is  a month ahead of in years past. As  we grew up in Iowa and Terry still has family back there and it looks like a hot and dry farming growing season and maybe worse.  Nebraska reports dust storms ... not good. So life goes on and  more later from us camp hosts in a great underutilized campground in south east Idaho.