Our Work Routine

We’re over the half way point of our time here at Inks Lake State Park.  We’ve got our work routine down.  This is the only park we’ve volunteered at where the volunteers pretty much schedule themselves.  It works amazingly well!

Most of the volunteers have been here before, some folks several times.  Everyone is super nice and helpful. 

Our schedule has settled down some.  The firewood and fishing gear jobs we had have been given to two new volunteer couples that have arrived.  We have settled into cleaning cabins.  Sunday is our busiest day.  We split cabin duties with another couple but Sunday is the only day that we all four work on the same day.  With two couples working on Sunday, we’re usually finished around noon or one.  Then, as a reward for our hard work, we all head to town for a nice lunch. 

Checkout time in the cabins is 11:00 a.m.  On cold days, folks seem to get up and out early.  On nice, sunny days, folks sometimes stay till noon (or later), with permission. 

There are two levels of cleaning.  One is a check and quick cleaning after someone has left the cabin.  This quick clean takes about 10-15 minutes.  The second is a deep clean, which takes 2 - 2 1/2 hours.  A deep clean involves taking out the windows and screens, and scrubbing everything down with a Clorox solution. 

Mark goes around the outside of the cabin sweeping down cobwebs, cleaning the outside of the windows, and taking the light fixture down to clean.  On the inside he takes the air conditioner/heater apart and cleans the filter with soap and water and vacuums all the other parts, takes down the light fixture and cleans it, tests the smoke detector, sweeps the cobwebs off the ceiling, removes the windows and takes the screens outside to scrub with soap and water, sweeps and mops the floor, and even flips the mattresses.   

 Sweeping the cobwebs.

Washing screens.

 Window washing.

 Checking the smoke detector and cleaning the inside of the light.

 Mopping after sweeping.

Flipping the mattresses.

While Mark is doing his part, I’m inside cleaning windows.  After he takes the windows out I clean the rails with q-tips!  Each cabin has five large windows and one small window in the door. The windows take most of my time.  It’s amazing how good they look when finished. There are two bunk beds that I spray (frame and mattress) with a Clorox solution and wipe down (this is a good way to find used chewing gum).  I use a Swifter to clean the ceiling fan, spray and wipe down the four chairs and the table (another good place to find used chewing gum).  While Mark is finishing up I start putting our supplies away and check around the outside of the cabin for any trash. 

 

Cleaning the window tracks.

There are 22 cabins and we try to deep clean all of them once a month.  We can do 2-3 a week along with quick cleaning several cabins a week.  The other couple does that many too.

Even with the awful weather we’ve been having since we arrived here, we have really enjoyed our time in this beautiful park.  Next month is Spring break and we have been told (warned?) that the park will be packed for a couple of weeks.  Stay tuned!