Retired couple enjoys new life as hosts for campers at Salmonberry

By Erin Madison
Gazette-Times reporter

ALSEA — Lester and Rebecca Miller each go to town one day a week: Lester on Sundays to pick up a copy of the newspaper and Rebecca on Tuesdays to do laundry and go grocery shopping.

Otherwise, the couple can be found in their fifth-wheel trailer, at their picnic table under the shade of a canopy, or at any of the 20 campsites at the Salmonberry Campground greeting arriving campers.

They don't get paid for the work they do, but get free camping space in return for their time spent overseeing the area and keeping it clean as the campground hosts.

The couple moved from Ohio, where they owned a service station, to Oregon 21 years ago. They've lived in Lebanon and then Albany until this May, when after selling their home and belongings and buying the trailer and a truck, they became the Salmonberry Campground hosts.

They'll be volunteering at Salmonberry, a Benton County park which is located 6.4 miles west of Alsea on Oregon Highway 34, until September, when they'll head to Niland, Calif., to host at a campground there.

The Millers plan to move from one campground to the next as long as they're able to, Rebecca Miller said.

"We're just like a lot of elderly people, just traveling around," Lester Miller said.

The couple has all the comforts of home in the trailer, which they tow behind their truck, including satellite TV, a computer, a telephone, a shower, a couch and two recliners.

"We have everything," Rebecca Miller said, "because it's our home."

Before giving up their more conventional home, the Millers met with other camp hosts to find out what they'd be getting into.

"We first drove around and started talking to other camp hosts," Rebecca Miller said.

The Millers enjoyed the work at their service station in Ohio because it allowed them to meet so many new people, something they also get to do as camp hosts.

"In this type of business, you meet all types of people," Lester Miller said.

The Millers spend their time greeting campers, taking them firewood and cleaning the sites after they leave.

"We go through and we clean everything up, so it's ready for the next person," Lester Miller said.

They've found that if they keep the campground clean, campers will do their best to leave it that way.

Campers usually come in on Friday and stay through Sunday or just come Saturday and stay one night, Rebecca Miller said. During the week, they usually have the campground to themselves.

They try to go around and greet all the campers. Some of them like to chat and others just like to be left alone, Rebecca Miller said. She can usually get a vibe for which category they fit into as she's walking up to their site.

Lester Miller had heard before starting at the Salmonberry Campground that it was considered a "dead" campground — one that not many people use. Because this is his first season working there, he doesn't know how it compares to other years, but he's been surprised by how popular it seems to be.

On most weekends, the campground comes close to being full and on holidays it always fills up, he said.

"On holidays, we're packed in here," he said.

There's also been a family reunion, a church group retreat and the Alsea Fire Department picnic since they started working there, and there's a wedding planned for later this summer.

The campground attracts some regulars who come multiple times over the summer, Rebecca Miller said.

Sophie and Ross Smith have been camping at Salmonberry for at least 10 years and usually come for about five days at a time three or four times each summer. The couple is originally from Seneca but now are "full-time RV-ers," moving around from one campground to the other.

"It's always quiet here," Sophie Smith said. "I enjoy the trees and the flowers."

She also appreciates the friendly people who tend to stay at Salmonberry and the showers, which are new to the campground this year and cost 25 cents per minute to use.

The creek behind the campground is a popular crawdad hunting spot and attracts many people to the area.

The other day, Lester Miller said he saw someone lying on a raft in the middle of the creek, just reaching into the water and grabbing crawdads. Miller's also been known to catch a few himself.

"They're a delicacy to me," he said.