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00:00:01
Robbie Merritt
31 Plays1 day ago
Join Alasdair and Park Superintendent Robbie Merritt as we talk about the day to day life in a Texas state park, as well as what motivates all of those who work to make the parks a place of tremendous pride in the Lone Star State
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Transcript
Introduction to the Outdoorsy Educator Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Outdoorsy Educator podcast, where learning gets a breath of fresh air. I'm your host Alistair, and each week I talk with people from all walks of life to explore how education, the outdoors, and real-world experiences shape who we are.
00:00:19
Speaker
From classrooms to campfires, trails to town halls, we dig into the lessons that move us, challenge us, stick with us, and can make the world a better place.
Meet Robbie Merritt, Park Superintendent at Ray Roberts Lake
00:00:35
Speaker
And on this week's episode of the Outdoorsy Educator podcast, we have Park Complex Superintendent Robbie Merritt. Robbie, how are you today? All right. Good afternoon.
00:00:47
Speaker
I really appreciate your time being here. It's ah the middle of the work week, and I'm sure you're geared with all this warm weather we're having
Roles and Responsibilities of a Park Superintendent
00:00:54
Speaker
in North Texas. I assume that you are quite busy, so I really do appreciate your time. Why don't we start off by you telling our listeners a little bit about who you are and what you do.
00:01:07
Speaker
ah Well, I'm the park complex superintendent for Ray Roberts Lake State Park, so I get the privilege of stewarding all of the park resources here at Ray Roberts for the Al DuBois, Johnson Branch, and Greenbelt units, as well as all the boat ramps and and the smaller units in between. So I get to do a little bit of all of it as a park superintendent, a everything from personnel management to budgets and the spreadsheets and the bureaucracy and those not time of fun things as well as ah the more mission-oriented things of providing programming and outdoor recreation opportunities for folks. I'm also a park police officer, so a dual role in that regard. But it's a it's a fun job. It's a kind of all-encompassing.
00:01:56
Speaker
I love it. Well, a little bit backstory. I've lived in the North Texas area for a little over 20 years. And I've been very fortunate to have traveled to many Texas state parks. But Ray Roberts is, it's it's just one of the best. It's just wonderful. And I feel so lucky to live 15 minutes south.
00:02:13
Speaker
of the Isle de Bois entrance. I'm often up at the Greenbelt entrance and hiking up there. and It's just a wonderful park that not only is is clean with great trails and great lake access, but my girls, my children have grown up there.
00:02:27
Speaker
So it's got a lot of you know heartfelt memories now for me. So it's particularly um wonderful to speak with you today. um Why don't we just sort start off at the beginning, what inspired you to get involved with the state parks and become a park ranger?
Robbie's Journey to Becoming a Park Ranger
00:02:45
Speaker
Well, i always tell people I'm the park ranger that never should have been. i grew up in North Carolina as 1980s latchkey kid, but my family didn't have any real history of, you know,
00:03:01
Speaker
being outside or hunting and fishing or anything like that. Um, but fortunate in, you know, to me, it all seems very ah inconvenient outside. It's either hot or it's cold or bugs. There's, you know right you know, I was much happier on the couch with my Nintendo, but, uh, I had a friend of mine that lived down the street and his family was constantly running around playing in the mountains and the coast and hiking and everything. And they kind of drug me along on their adventures over the years, kicking and screaming at first and then a little more eagerly later. And I really discovered a lot about myself through that. and
00:03:38
Speaker
and and the suffering of being outside sometimes. Absolutely. You know, and it's just the the connection of it all. So that kind of planted the seed for me that I wanted to do something in the outdoors with my with my work life and Didn't know what that was, but I went off to forestry school at Stephen F. Austin State University there in Nacogdoches.
00:04:00
Speaker
I had worked at a summer camp in Arkansas for several years through high school, and that kind of brought me west to start with, and eventually landed me in Texas. so I got a forestry degree from SFA and still didn't know what I wanted to do, but The irony is i I wanted to get into forestry because i wasn't real confident in my social skills and I didn't want to deal with people. So I thought I'd just go play in the woods and write and be a forest scientist and wouldn't have to deal with people. And that didn't work out. But ah the irony is that it turns out I'm pretty good at working with people. And first job out of college was actually ah working for the Methodist Church as a youth director in
00:04:45
Speaker
in Montgomery, Texas near Houston. And then eventually they hired me on, uh, as a program director at their camp and conference center in Palestine, Lakeview Methodist conference center. And I did, um, all their programming and lifeguard management and challenge courts and ropes course ministry and stuff there for six years. And before finally circling back around and, uh,
00:05:08
Speaker
and realizing that, you know, i kind of always wanted to to work for parks and be a part of that mission.
Experiences and Roles in Various State Parks
00:05:15
Speaker
yeah And so I started off with state parks and South Texas at Goliad State Park, which is a beautiful historical state park there. yes And Lake Corpus Christi State Park for many years, a little stint at Goose Island and patrolling down the border at Falcon and Benson and some of those others before coming up here to Ray Roberts about five years ago. So,
00:05:39
Speaker
About five years ago. Fantastic. And, you know, I think we all have a a romantic image of a park ranger and the day-to-day jobs. I'm sure there's lots of wonderful parts to the job, got no doubt. But what does it a typical day for a park ranger look like? And I know we talked before we started recording, a park ranger is quite an umbrella term.
00:06:00
Speaker
But I'm thinking more of the people on the ground, the people you might meet if you went camping of a weekend at the park. What does their sort of day-to-day look like? Like we talked about before, we have a ah number of positions that are park rangers ranging from you know the superintendents and park police officers to maintenance staff.
00:06:20
Speaker
and the office and customer service teams, and even our interpretive programming folks that actually run programs for folks. People are a little more associated with as far as calling, you know, when they think of a park ranger, that's usually the folks they're talking about, the ones doing the fun stuff, right?
00:06:37
Speaker
Right, right. And so, but the ones you probably and would interact with in the park most often are headquarters team and the customer service folks up there that are going to get you oriented to the park and help you plan out your event, your stay as best you can and get you get to know the resources and the trails there. Or our maintenance and our army of volunteers that we have out in the field helping out maintaining all those restrooms and the campsites and everything. Those are probably going to be the ones you run into most often.
00:07:11
Speaker
Yeah, they're certainly the ones that when I'm camping up at Ray Roberts, I mean, I'm going to be up there tomorrow night, but they're the ones that you have to, you know, giving you the wave and as they they're driving by and just giving you that warm and friendly welcome when you're camping.
00:07:25
Speaker
they're They're just, yeah army oh, they do. without Without fail, this army of volunteers, you speak they're they're they're just fantastic. um yeah i was I was thinking about all the different aspects the of the you the job you must do. um what What would you say is the most rewarding part of your job?
Connecting People to Parks and Fulfillment in the Job
00:07:46
Speaker
um For me, the most rewarding part is a is really the the mission-based stuff for us. you know Our mission with Parks and Wildlife, and especially state parks, is to conserve these resources for folks and help them actually recreate in them. and so Any of those you know special events and programs that we do that helps connect people to the park that may not come to the park otherwise, those are kind of the the things that really jazz me or or just, you know, interacting, taking the time and when I can and interacting with folks down at the swim beach or, or yeah some other place in the park that, you know, they may have just come in just for that one thing and don't have any clue about the resources around them and, and how special a place it is and just being able to interact with them a little bit and connect with their story and help them make a even better memory of, out of their experience at the park.
00:08:41
Speaker
Yeah, I've now talked to many people who work in the outdoors in all different capacities. And I love that. I mean, we are maybe five minutes into this conversation. It always comes back to the people.
00:08:53
Speaker
It's always the visitors, the people you meet on the trail, the families at the campsite. um And that, I assume, is one of the driving forces behind what you do.
00:09:05
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. Just connecting people to the park and to each other. You know, we live in a a bit of a divisive time if you watch the news these days. Absolutely. One of the, it seems like one of the unifying topics for anybody from any walk life seems to be parks and the outdoors. You know, see that seems to be an idea that everybody can get behind and And especially here in the DFW area, we have such a wide range and diverse culture here in the DFW area. So it's it's amazing to see all different kinds of people coming to do the same things and experience the same things, but in their own way. So, yeah, I like to think of the parks as kind a unifying topic in a divisive time. Yeah, no, I think that's beautifully put. like i'm you know I've never owned a boat. I'm not somebody who really good goes out on a boat, but I love seeing and hear, it's usually hearing, hearing families and laughter out on the boats when I'm at my campsite. um it just It does, without going overboard, it makes you realize even in these divisive times, everything is going to be all right.
00:10:18
Speaker
You know, there's still there there's so much good out there in the wild and we see it at the state parks a lot. I was
Nature's Solace During COVID-19
00:10:25
Speaker
thinking... but Sorry, go ahead. A time when that really came home to me was during COVID. And every time you turned on the news, it was always doom and gloom and the world's going to end and this is going wrong and that's going wrong. and That was a really tough time for us in parks because we were often operating with very short staffs or no staffs. and I had him right a few times where i was the only one in the park. but you know You just get depressed listening to it all and not knowing what tomorrow is going to hold. but
00:10:55
Speaker
but I would just step outside and look around at the trees and and the the lake and think, you know, The sun's still rising. Exactly. All this stuff is still working the way it's supposed to, you know, just drown out the noise a little bit. And it's it's really centering.
00:11:13
Speaker
Absolutely. I mean, and I think this is a very common story, but I got into hiking years ago, a because I really enjoy it, but also thinking good exercise, physical health, but the secret is it's just as much for mental health and clarity as it is for physical health. And it sounds like you've had a similar experience.
00:11:34
Speaker
Absolutely. Time and again. Yeah, yeah. It will never go away. When I was preparing for talking with you today, I was thinking about all the things i so I see when I come up to Ray Roberts or really any other Texas State Park. You know, you see and the nature center and there's activities. But I was thinking also about the other side of the job, which I assume there's lots going on that we don't see really in in focusing, excuse me, on um conservation and safety. I was wondering if you might talk a little bit about where wildlife conservation um falls under your job and and what you do at state parks to conserve that the land the landd that we're on
00:12:17
Speaker
Sure. So every state park is a little bit different. And, you know, Texas is one of ah the most naturally diverse states in the whole country. now So where you, depending on where you go, their resource management is going to look very different.
Conservation and Indigenous History at Ray Roberts Lake
00:12:31
Speaker
from here. But here Ray Roberts is is kind of a very unique area because we we actually split three different eco regions. We have the ah Blackland Prairie to the east, the Grand Prairie to the west, which are similar but different in their own ways. And then the cross timbers forest that runs right down the middle of it. And if you look at an aerial shot today, it's hard to tell where the cross timbers forest us used to be. But But but that belt ran all the way from Oklahoma, way, way, way down through Texas. And it was just this thin strip.
00:13:08
Speaker
And here at Ray Roberts, we're blessed to have a little bit all of it. And so those are are kind of the primary resource regions that we manage here, both the cross timbers forest and the prairies.
00:13:20
Speaker
As far as a the work we do for that, you know, One of our biggest goals is just trying to restore the landscape to pre-European settlement. what What did it look like before we came in and built all the roads and fences and took fire off the landscape and introduced all the invasive species to our yards that have now spread, you know, um and that kind of thing. So.
00:13:45
Speaker
Um, it's a, it's a big task and we're not completely successful at it ever. Um, it's ongoing, but here at Ray Roberts, we're, uh, you know, we do a lot of fire, which takes a pretty much year round preparation to be ready for that magical moment. Some point in the winter months when we can have the right weather and bring a full crew to bear to to be able to do a burn.
00:14:11
Speaker
But it's a year round effort to try to set the stage for that to do it safely. And that's both to protect the park from wildfire as well as our neighbors from wildfire. Of course. To build up the fuels. But as well to to help promote those native species that would have been here that would be here and to try to burn up those exotics that can't stand the fire right exactly and it's very interesting you brought up pre-european conditions because i was also thinking and this is an area of growth for me i'm not sure what indigenous histories there are connected to this land and to the park um Is this something that you, as as a park unit, have researched you know and celebrated? and And I know there must be some information out there, but could you talk to the fact that this was obviously Native American land prior to European settlement? And what do you know about that?
00:15:06
Speaker
Sure. North Texas, ah you know Texas itself is a diverse melting pot of cultures, and it was long before the Europeans got here too. um When they were originally building the dam for Ray Roberts back in the 80s, the federal archaeologist that was hired to monitor that dig just happened to be out after hours one night with his son, looking at the, the drainage ditch below the dam that they were digging, just kind of showing his son what they'd been working on. And and when he spotted something and in the dirt and he picked it up and it was a Clovis point that he just happened to discover. And so of course he halted the project for a little while while they did an excavation and they discovered At the time, what was the oldest sign of human habitation in Texas that had ever been discovered?
00:15:59
Speaker
good Since then, they found some more, but that's a little bit older. but But yeah, really, really old, like 11,000 years ago. So a long, long time ago.
00:16:11
Speaker
And so we there's been history of people in this area for a very long time. And especially anytime you're working with an area with wall water in the Trinity River, the Elm Fork that comes through here has been here for thousands of years. You tend to find those signs of that.
00:16:28
Speaker
But yeah. More modern, you know, the Comanche tribe, tribes roamed all across this area and, and many other tribes that, you know, we're trying to settle, but the Comanches, once they got ahold of horses from the Spanish, they kind of, uh,
00:16:45
Speaker
right ran rampant against a lot of the other tribes. And then, of course, once ah many of the eastern tribes moved to were moved to Oklahoma through the Trail of Tears, there was bleed over from that into Texas as well. So the human story here in North Texas is is very deep for sure.
00:17:05
Speaker
um that cross-timbers belt of forest I was talking about, um you know it had particular meaning to Not only the native peoples, but the the European settlers that were coming across the prairie on their voyage west would hit that tangled mess of forest. And there's writings that we have in our nature center at Aldebois that talk about how awful it was trying to move through that.
00:17:34
Speaker
that forest and they called it the cast iron forest because it was so hard to penetrate to get through. And they would come to these little ah pockets in the forest that had created openings somehow naturally. And they would write about how, you know, what a blessing from God it was to have this opening where they could just spread out and lick their wounds and and regroup before they pressed on. But countless numbers of those, you know, they came to the cross timbers, got there and decided, you know what?
00:18:04
Speaker
done. Prairie to farm on. We got forest to to, you know, for lumber and to build with, and they just stayed. And so we managed that cultural heritage too. We have several sites at Aldebois and and Johnson Branch that ah have, you know, early 1800s settlements that ah one in particular here at Johnson Branch, I'm here in the Nature Center at Johnson Branch today, called, we call the Jones Farm, was a family farm that was,
00:18:38
Speaker
established in the 1850s and the same family farmed it from the 1850s all the way up until the federal government took their land for the the lake project in the 80s and we have their stories and we try to tell them through the nature center here about what it took for those people to survive on this wild landscape back then for so long and how they had to modify and change as technologies changed and their situation changed So there's a lot of interlap between cultural and natural resources.
00:19:10
Speaker
no What that does, yeah, just it leads to this such a rich tapestry of all these stories, of all these different people who have called this area home. It really is really is fascinating. And I knew a little bit of that story. um Something I love to do is your first day hikes. um I've done the last...
00:19:31
Speaker
Three years? Three or several? Several years anyway. Did you do the whole Tri-Parkathon? Oh, absolutely. Yes. yeah had up I would regret it for the rest of the year if I didn't do all three parts of it. You know, what was I thinking? And behind me it's blurred, but actually I've got two two of the medals from...
00:19:50
Speaker
last year and the year before hanging up behind me. Yeah, it's what it's that is my favorite thing. beat And again, full circle, because usually when I go hiking, it's it's just me or being a daughter, me and my wife, me and the dog. I meet so many people on that first day, trip you know, the Tri Park hiking. um It's really just, and again, all walks of life, all backgrounds, all ages.
00:20:13
Speaker
And it's it's very good to remind myself, you know, the trail is truly for everyone. And it's ah it's a wonderful place to be. That's such an awesome event because it's, you know, it's, it's national, you know, when you're participating in a first day hike, yeah you know, you're not just at a Texas state park participating in that you're participating at the same moment that thousands of people are doing the same thing in parks all over the country. and yeah So that's pretty cool connection.
00:20:39
Speaker
it is It is. It's one of my favorite events of the year. an even Great way to start the year. I feel like this year wasn't too bad. but If I remember rightly last year, it was it was cold. But there was still tons of people out there. um It really, really was something. Yeah.
00:20:59
Speaker
I was thinking we could get sort of caught up in the weeds of all the the conservation work and the paperwork and this and that. But I was thinking you've got to have seen some funny stories and heard some funny things in your time. And I was wondering if anything really stood out as a particularly funny story you've heard or something you have seen in the park.
00:21:20
Speaker
Oh boy. Um, there are so many, it's hard to sort in my brain after 17 years. Right. um e Let me come back to that one. Okay, we'll come back to that one. um Yeah, like said I've just been writing down questions as we've been talking to. um And this may be another one you come back to because there's probably many moments you felt a degree of pride, not necessarily for yourself, but possibly but really for the park itself.
Tornado Challenges and Team Resilience
00:21:48
Speaker
And I was wondering if there was a particular event or a particular time where you really felt that pride of working for the Texas State Park system.
00:22:02
Speaker
and um Yeah, you know I'm proud every day of what we do, but never more so than during the trials and tribulations that we face sometimes. um Here at Ray Roberts, we we had a really tough blow a couple years ago with a tornado that blew through and really devastated the park and our concessionaires. And it happened on a Memorial Day Saturday.
00:22:31
Speaker
Campgrounds were full. Miracle that no one got too severely hurt. We did have some injuries that had to go to the hospital. But, you know, right from the get go, our park police was out right before the tornado hit, running through campgrounds, warning people to take shelter. and And I know that saved so many lives. And then in the aftermath, we spent months during the hottest months of the year um just chainsawing wood chipping trying to dig the park back out um getting the flipped over rvs and things out and our concessionaires making repairs to their arenas and trying to get back on their feet um and again this that was not the summer that we were were planning you know right and actually close the parks for quite some time till we can make them safe and But just the the poise and resilience the whole team showed during that time, you know, never flinching, working as a team, plotting through the hardest labor you can imagine day in, day out, just to get us back to where we could welcome the public back.
00:23:40
Speaker
Pretty proud moments for sure. And you can look around the state. I've had conversations. similar experiences at goose island after hurricane harvey and we've had you know parks with wildfires and other calamities that have occurred and you know it's it's the same sometimes you're you're telling your staff to stay home until things are so safe and they're beating the doors down trying to get back to the park to you know it's that kind of passion that we have uh on the park teams uh across the state and it's that culture that that really makes me proud
00:24:12
Speaker
I love that. That's ah I mean, as it can, in the blink of an eye, everything can change, but people do tend to rally around and and look out for each other. And I'm so glad that that in the, you know, after tragedy, every, know, there was so much good that came out of it, seeing everyone come together.
00:24:31
Speaker
um If you wanted to offer some advice to somebody who wanted to follow in your footsteps, become a park ranger, work for the the parks, the Texas state parks, what would what advice would you give them?
00:24:45
Speaker
Well, first and foremost, I just want to dissuade some kind of, I guess, misinformation, we call it out there. But a lot of folks that want to get into... Steve McLaughlin, State Parks work, you know, they make the mistaken assumption that they have to get a resource management type of degree and you McLaughlin, Very often we see kids that have done great in college, but they've gotten a good resource management wildlife degree or whatnot, but.
00:25:16
Speaker
but they don't get any experience working with the public during that time. And they get out of college and they don't have and any experience that helps them apply for any of our jobs. So first and foremost, get the experience. And, you know, as far as state parks go, mean, I'll hire a psychology major or a history major just as as I would hire somebody with a resource management background, because truly in state parks, at least our side of the parks and wildlife house,
00:25:43
Speaker
you know, that's the majority of what we're doing is, is working with people. We're managing people, you know, if you're a manager, you're managing staff, but we're all managing the public and how they interact with that landscape and, and that. So, My biggest piece of advice would be to make sure that you're getting experience out in the public sector in some way just to build up that resume. But we've got great ways to build a resume in Parks and Wildlife. Right now, our summer interns positions have posted all of the state.
00:26:18
Speaker
So if you're interested in that, get online and apply for those intern jobs. They have them in state parks, law enforcement, wildlife, fisheries, I.T.
00:26:28
Speaker
I mean, you name it, every branch of everything we do has an internship for the summer. So it's a great way to if you're a college age kid wanting to get some experience, you can get a paid internship with Parks and Wildlife. And that looks great on the resume.
00:26:43
Speaker
But if you can't get that, we also have tons of seasonal jobs. whether it be customer service at the state parks office or working in the maintenance field out at the state parks. And those are great ways to get experience actually on the ground, boots on the ground type of experience for your resume that will help you out with all your career goals.
00:27:06
Speaker
that's That's fantastic and great advice. I'm going to leave the ah the funniest thing question dangling. So if you think of something, it's right there. But I was curious as to your career. I'm looking at my list of stories here. Your list of, there'll be a good list. I actually have to write them down because I'll forget. but so yeah, I got some if you want to circle back to that. All right, we'll circle back to that at the end. It'd be great to finish on that note. um I was curious how your definition of success has changed, if indeed it has, when you entered the state park um field, what you thought, oh, to be successful, I should do this. And maybe it has stayed the same and consistent, or has what you think of as success changed?
00:27:50
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:53
Speaker
I don't know that it's changed that much. Right. Because in state parks, we do have a pretty defined mission. And so it's pretty clear how to succeed with that mission. Okay.
00:28:05
Speaker
But I think as far as my personal success goes, that that idea has changed a lot. You know, when you're young, you're you're hungry for it. You're always wanting to look towards that next goal or, you know, and I think I counsel my mentees a lot that, you know, don't focus so much on the future. You're losing sight of what's, what's happening today. You know, what, what good can you do today?
00:28:30
Speaker
That's going to make a difference. Cause that's, what's going to tell the tale ultimately about what happens in the future as far as your career goes. And I think I often lost sight of that sometimes wanting to, you know,
00:28:43
Speaker
worrying too much about whether we got something just right or or that or the other and how that might look upon me. And that's not the point, you know, stay mission focused and as to the why of everything that we're doing and making sure we're doing the best job we can for that. And the the other things will come.
Book Recommendation: 'Texas' by James Michener
00:29:02
Speaker
I love that. good Good advice for us all. Something I always ask every guest is if there's been a book or a piece of music or both that has been particularly important or impactful in your life.
00:29:20
Speaker
Plenty. Yeah.
00:29:24
Speaker
Sometimes it's hard to choose just one, but not necessarily your favorite or best or anything like that. Just something that you think that that made a difference. Well, getting back to talking about stories, you know, a one of my passions is history. Not because i like facts and figures, and but just the stories of the people and the time that they lived. And, ah you know, like we were talking about before, it's we...
00:29:52
Speaker
Often live in divisive times and that's been true over histories well where we try to demonize some group of people because they're different in some way and they're the bad guys were the good guys and the truth is often very much grayer in the middle. They're just need trying to do the best they can.
00:30:11
Speaker
in the situation they're in And, uh, Texas itself is a shining example of that. It's probably one of the most culturally diverse places on the planet. Right. As far as people coming together from all walks of life. And, ah one of the best books I've ever read, it's a little dated because it was written in the eighties, but it's just simply Texas by James Michener. Okay. Yeah.
00:30:36
Speaker
That book is written in a novel format, so it's fiction, but he takes you through the perspective of people in Texas from the last 450 years.
00:30:48
Speaker
Everything from Spanish conquistadors and the the priests and missionaries to vaqueros to the American settlers and impresarios and Stephen F. Austin and all them Texas Rangers, you know, the german immigrants that came to texas in the 1800s to escape things over there not having a clue as to the the horrors of the wilds that they were facing right and um all the way up through the 20th century and the oil barons of the 80s you know it's a it's a it's really thick book so not for the fan but it's really a series of a bunch of different books but I love it because it it analyzes or puts you in the shoes of all these people from all different walks of life, all different cultures, and what they were experiencing from their perspective and how they interacted with this incredibly diverse and impressive landscape we have in Texas throughout the years. It really good gives a lot of good perspective.
00:31:55
Speaker
Yeah, putting ourselves in other people's shoes does ah does wonders for for society. So i will will I will make sure to check that out. I've got that book written down. um And the penultimate question, i was i was thinking of, if you could take anybody from history, whether it's somebody you'd know, somebody you've never met, famous or otherwise, take them on the guided tour of Ray Roberts and you get to pick their brain as you're walking around. Who might it be that you would like to give a guided tour to? Ooh.
00:32:34
Speaker
And again, I'm putting you on the spot and I apologize for that. i like No worries. um
00:32:47
Speaker
Yeah, I think for something like that, I'd have to go back to some of the founding fathers of resource management in this country with either Teddy Roosevelt or Gifford Pinchot or or John Muir or any of those guys around that same kind of time frame that helped shape our public lands.
00:33:07
Speaker
Yeah, John Muir, a fellow Scot, and Teddy Roosevelt. I mean, two people. I don't really have heroes and nobody is perfect, but they are two people that have... I have greatly appreciate all that they did um because it's directly impacted my life.
00:33:25
Speaker
Their hard work for with the conservation. As we come to an end here, I will circle back around if if you do have a funny story and this would be a great note to end on.
A Humorous Visitor Story
00:33:38
Speaker
I do love that you've got theve got some things written down.
00:33:45
Speaker
oh Let's see. We may have lost Robbie for just minute. There we go. We're back. Perfect.
00:33:52
Speaker
I just wanted to get out of a story. yeah That's it. Let's see here. ah Okay. so
00:34:05
Speaker
One funny one. Again, you know so often we we tend to make assumptions about people and it's something I counsel my staff on quite often that we have no idea where they're coming from when they come here and what their situation is before they get here. So make assumptions and assume that they're less of anybody than anybody else. But ah i was at, this happened at Goliad state park many years ago and it was in the fall and I got to work probably a little bit late and i was a little frazzled trying to get the office open with my
00:34:42
Speaker
my customer service specialist there. And as we're trying to get all the paperwork done to open the cash drawers and everything, the park host comes in in and says, uh, you know At Goliad, we had a front campground, which was the nice one, and then the back campground, which was more like a parking lot. So right there was a front to course. And so the park host said somebody had a reservation for the back campground, but they had moved up to the front campground and were evidently voiced to the park hosts how –
00:35:14
Speaker
angry they were and that they could not stay in that back campground because it was too dangerous. Oh, right. And he started to explain to me that it was, they had complained about kids attacking them right when this visitor actually walked in the door and he had to quiet up.
00:35:35
Speaker
And so I looked up and unfortunately in this case, I had already kind of made up my mind, as somebody's just trying to get you know, an upgrade on a campsite for free or whatever. Right. And, but the guy started in saying, you know, we could not stay back there. That was, you know, these were folks from up north, winter Texans, we call them down in the south. that Come in the winter, they were on their way to the farther down to the valley and just stopping by. But,
00:36:02
Speaker
you know, I don't think they'd ever really been to Texas before. And, but he said there was kids attacking us. I was like, there were kids attacking you, which, you know, describe that to me. And yeah he's like, they were throwing rocks at us.
00:36:16
Speaker
that They were, they were throwing rocks at us in our trailer. And, you know, every time I tried to open the door, they throw another rock. And it was like, well, what'd they look like? And yeah he said, uh,
00:36:29
Speaker
he said well i never saw them they're hiding in the woods and but they kept throwing rocks at us and i was like did you hear them at all he's like no they're quiet but they were kept throwing rocks at us and and you know y'all need to go find those you know right ruffle belts or whatever and and i said well you know it's it's an upgrade to come to the front campground here's what it's going to cost and he got flustered and said well ill have to go back to my trailer and get money so he left we And I'm finally getting my coffee in and waking up and getting things organized in the office. And I start to think about it and I'm like,
00:37:04
Speaker
kids in the woods. This is South Texas. Um, you've never been to South Texas. The woods are not woods. It's, it's thorn scrub, you know, you don't walk in the woods down there unless there's trail. Um, cause it's just, it'll tear you to pieces. And so I was got to, I pulled up his reservation to see what campsite he was at. I got thinking in and trying to visualize that in my head, like kids throwing rocks.
00:37:31
Speaker
there's a chance they came off the highway and stuff, but it just didn't make sense. yeah And so, ah but then ah I kind of had a thought about an experience I had had ah over there a week before. And so, so I hopped in my truck and I drove down to that campsite, you know, they weren't there anymore cause they moved to the front campground, but, and I stopped there and parked in the campsite and i so I got out of my truck, went over to the picnic table and just waited for a minute.
00:37:58
Speaker
And sure enough, bang. Right. There's a live oak tree right over that. Acorn season. And so it was dropping acorns like crazy and just banging on the the roof of the truck.
00:38:14
Speaker
And I was like, okay, that's it. So then I'm driving back to the office and I'm sitting here thinking to myself, you know, how do I. explain this to him where he doesn't feel stupid.
00:38:24
Speaker
Yep. You got tread lightly there. Yes. Right. But that he understands that nobody was trying to attack him. And so I had to put myself in his shoes. You know, they came in late after hours. It was dark. Never been there before trying to find their campsite. They finally do. Lord knows how long they've been on the road before that. And, you know, they get set up. It's, they're the only ones in that back campground. It's dark. It's foggy.
00:38:54
Speaker
Nobody else around. And then this happens. i'm like, yeah, that's, and so he comes in and he's still flustered and, I start to check him in and said, hey, I'm going to waive that extra fee for you I'm so sorry that you had that experience back there. And I said, you know, we'll look into the it we'll definitely be looking for those kids and see if we can find anything. But, you know, I was back there last week and I had the Dickens scared out of me because that live oak tree is shedding acorns like crazy. and And it was hitting the top of my truck and it sounded like gunfire went off.
00:39:31
Speaker
And he was just going to stop for a second, thought for another second. And he like, huh. And I was like, but again, I'm so sorry that you had that experience and, and really hope you come back and, you know, I'm going to discount you this much or whatever for the that you had. Cause that's definitely not the experience we want you to have here. I hope you all have a chance to go visit the mission and you know, all the things, but ah that was a pretty fun one, but I like to use that story with the,
00:40:01
Speaker
the staff sometimes to just to remind them that, you know, you know, to us, some of their actions may seem stupid sometimes, but you got to put yourself in their shoes, you know, and their perspective is going to be different from us. And, um, it's up to us to try to interpret these things to them so that, uh, they can have the best time that they can and appreciate these places like we do. So.
00:40:24
Speaker
So that's fantastic. It reminds me, my my brother-in-law, sister-in-law and their children live in Austin and they have a huge live oak tree and a metal roof. And there is no noise quite like that. I mean, we have live oak trees here, oak trees and the the acorns fall, but on metal, it is something else. Like it really is. It's funny. I kind of get it though. Like I might have, what what is being thrown it? thrown at my camper if I was there.
00:40:55
Speaker
Yeah. Can completely relate. Well, this has been fantastic. Robbie Merritt, I really do appreciate your time. Thank you so much for spending this afternoon talking to me. You bet. Appreciate the opportunity and thanks for what you do
00:41:10
Speaker
Thank you again to this week's guest and I hope today's episode was as enjoyable for you as it was for me and perhaps even inspired your next adventure. If you did enjoy the show, please be sure to subscribe, leave a review or follow us wherever you get your podcasts. You can find more information at theoutdoorsyeducator.com or follow us on Instagram, TikTok or Facebook. Until next time, thank you so much for listening to The Outdoorsy Educator Podcast.