Our Last RVICS Project for 2026
We departed the RVICS Village in Smithville, TX on October 28th and got back on the road with Trinity, our 35 foot fifth wheel trailer, heading for Camp of the Hills in Marble Falls located in the Texas hill country west of Austin. We don't officially start the project here until Monday, November 2nd, but like to arrrive early enough to get our bearings whenever we arrive at a new location. We also wanted to avoid the rain forecasted for Thursday and Friday; it's no fun setting up in a new place in the rain.
Marble Falls is a historic lake town located in Burnet County in the Texas Hill Country, situated roughly 50 to 58 miles northwest of Austin along the Colorado River. Founded in 1887 by Adam Rankin Johnson, the town was named for natural marble-like limestone and granite waterfall formations on the Colorado River, which were later submerged by the creation of Lake Marble Falls after the construction of Max Starcke Dam. Local granite from the area was notably used to build the Texas State Capitol building in Austin.
Camp of the Hills began in the summer of 1990 when two men of faith brought eight inner city kids from Houston’s 5th Ward to the shores of Lake Travis for a few days of camping, swimming and fishing. The kids had never experienced the outdoors and had been asked to leave another summer camp for behavior reasons. They camped and cooked under the stars on land owned by Nelson Lewis, a contractor and rancher who lived nearby in the small community of Smithwick. At that time, there were no facilities or infrastructure.
Over time, camp acquired a 105-acre site and, with primarily volunteer labor, constructed a main building, seven boy’s and girl’s cabins, two bath houses, a laundry room, eight sponsor cabins, water and wastewater systems and a concrete swimming hole. Camp of the Hills operates on an extremely lean annual operating budget and with only a handful of paid staff. Approximately 80% of operating funds come from charitable gifts. Camp leverages this budget of annual donations with thousands of volunteer hours. Since 1990, over 35,000 children have been introduced to the love of Christ through this ministry. This is our home for the next three weeks.
On Thursday, Karen and I met with Alicen Ohorán the Operations Director/Interim Executive Director and her husband Kevin Ohorán, Facility and Grounds Director to discuss what our roles at the camp might entail. Now normally we would have a team of up to four couples working an RVICS project, but circumstances on this project worked out to be just the two of us. Our plan is to work together and not break out into men and women teams like we would do if there were more of us.
Karen's Aunt Ann lives not far from Marble Falls so on Saturday we drove to her home and had a wonderful visit with her along with Karen's cousins Cass, Nina and Frank. The Wright ladies prepared a delicious lunch for us all. What a joy to be together with family!
Monday, November 2 we met at the camp office to get our "marching orders" from Alicen and Kevin. Our first project is to check the electrical outlets, light switches and breakers in all the cabins for any issues. We got a work out climbing up and down many bunk beds to access the outlets! We also checked the smoke alarms and fire extinguishers in each cabin.
The annual inspection tags on all the cabin fire extinguishers indicate they are current until January 2027. The camp usually schedules the annual inspections in February, prior to the next summer camping season.
We thank God for this opportunity to serve Camp of the Hills! Please keep us and the camp in your thoughts and prayers as we work this project. We will keep you all up to date as the coming weeks progress.
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