Trip Report by Rick Hines
Carroll Campground Work, May 17, 2025

Crew: Rick Hines, Shane McCurdy, Kevin Feltz, Preston Hunter

A work weekend at the Carroll Cave campground for May 16th through May 18th had been planned for several months. My son Craig and I were the only ones scheduled to work on Friday, but he was having problems arranging for pet sitters and we decided to wait until Saturday morning. But to arrive early on Saturday I needed him to bring my 16 foot trailer to my home, so I could load my riding mower. A major goal of the trip was to cut the grass at the campsite, which I knew to be at least 2 feet tall. I learned that the spare tire on the trailer needed to be replaced and purchased a new tire and made arrangements to have it mounted at 5:00 PM Friday. I got a call from my son at about that time saying that he was on the road but having truck problems and needed to return to my farm near Fort Scott. I drove my pickup an hour and a half to the farm to get the trailer. By then Craig had decided not to go to Carroll. I also found that the trailer lights and trailer jack were not working. I managed to get one trailer light working and headed home arriving well after dark. It was a late night before I finally got the lawn mower loaded and other gear packed for a 5:00 AM departure.

I was the first to arrive at Carroll at 8:30 Saturday morning. I unloaded my mower and started cutting the 2-foot high grass. Soon Shane McCurdy arrived and started installing the last pieces of the white plastic coated plywood on the inside walls. Kevin Feltz and Preston Hunter joined the crew and started installing trim boards and filling the cracks between the paneling with white caulking.

When previously using the fireplace, we had found that smoke sometimes escaped from the top of the firebox opening. Holding a board over the opening changed the draft enough to eliminate the problem. I cut a seven inch wide strip of steel from one of the old silo panels to cover the top of the firebox opening. I’ll make angle iron slides to weld to the firebox when I return on May 30, with a screw adjustment to hold the steel strip in place.

Work was interrupted briefly as I got the mower stuck at the edge of the pond. I called for help and Shane attempted to come pull me out. But as he quickly shut the tail gate of his car he found he had locked his keys in the vehicle. A local locksmith was called and came out and after some difficulty was able to unlock the car.

All the area inside the fence was mowed. Much of the area to the west was overgrown with thorn bushes and trees. Some of the smaller bushes and trees were cut with the mower. The locust trees and larger thorn bushes were cut with a chainsaw. We will rake and burn what’s left on the next workday. I’ll also have Tordon to treat the locus tree stumps

We used my gas powered weed whip to clean up edges around the trees and structures. I wanted to use our new electric trimmer but couldn’t find the 60V battery that I knew was somewhere in the truck. I did find it when I was unloading at home and it will be returned when I return.

By Saturday afternoon all the trim was up on the inside walls. The gaps between the panels were filled with white painters’ caulk and looking good. Some of the ceiling panels where the 4-foot edges meet between the trusts were not aligned. A 6-inch strip of plywood was placed over the crack in the attic and secured with screws from below. I ground off the protruding screws in the attic.

There wasn’t a lot left to do on Sunday and with storms in the forecast, we decided not to spend the night. We loaded my mower and the electric mower on my trailer and chained them down. I’ll try to repair the electric mower in KC. With only one taillight working part of the time, I decided to head straight home and not do a traditional Mexican dinner in Camdenton. I had no working taillights when I reached Warsaw in the dark. I stopped at Tractor Supply and purchased taillights and again was able to get one working for the trip home.

I hope you can help on May 30 – June 1.

Rick Hines