[a
- WILLIE STEINHAUSER: I enjoy my job.
I like coming to work in the morning.
Because I'm a visitor also, I enjoy working for the agency,
I truly do.
So, I do have a lot of pride in it.
[guitar music]
[door creaks]
[guitar music]
[whirring]
I enjoy running the machine,
and making the signs that go out there,
because that is something,
as minor as it may seem to people,
they're just signs,
but it's something I enjoy doing.
My name is Willie Steinhauser.
I'm the sign shop manager at Bastrop State Park
for the entire state park system.
[guitar music]
They go throughout the entire state of Texas,
different parks, small or large, and I make them all.
[guitar music]
The yellow lettering on the brown backfield
kind of stands out.
It catches your eye easily, it's visible out in the world...
durable through the years.
[guitar music]
Historically, the signs were made with more
manual labor involved.
Have to spell out the phrase with all these little tiles,
get the spacing just right.
The operator would bring this carriage down
and trace out on those tiles
and the router would follow that pattern and make the sign.
[ratchet clicking]
A few years ago, the state parks bought the CNC machine
over here, which has just sped things up dramatically.
It's more computer-driven.
I just type in what that sign is supposed to say,
save it on a drive, and the machine actually comes across
and carves out the pattern.
[whirring]
It's a printer if you want to use that comparison,
but it has got a router bit.
The machine basically just does all the work.
If I have misspelled something in the software,
the machine is going to misspell it in the real world.
I truly don't think I've ever made a spelling mistake--
I check it all the time,
just to make sure it's spelled right.
That is it, but for some reason, that doesn't look right to me.
Some of our signs are even in the Spanish language
and I always have to get assistance to make sure
that the verbiage is proper.
Change this or this or add a tilde or something like that.
So those are kind of unusual, but I get help on those.
[prairie dog barks]
I had a guy in the agency ask me,
"Willie, what's the most unusual sign you're ever made?"
There's one for Caprock Canyon that claims to be the
official scratching post for the state bison herd,
or something like that.
And I didn't even know bison could read.
I had an order for a sign, it was two signs, actually,
for Big Bend Ranch State Park.
One side said simply, "Nowhere".
A big sign that said "Nowhere".
And the other sign that went with it said
"The Other Side of Nowhere".
His name was Kevin, I said,
"Kevin, I assume these signs go out somewhere in the desert
and they're mounted on the same post opposite each other."
And he emailed me back, "You are correct."
And he had a picture of himself with some other mountain bikers.
One that says "Nowhere", and then the other picture said
"The other side of nowhere".
So that's probably the most unusual sign I've made.
[intriguing music]
It's treated lumber.
It's supposed to last, but obviously in the Texas
environment, there's going to be some heat involved.
[wind]
They are in the elements 24 hours a day.
They don't get any break.
I would hope they get 6 to 8 years out of a sign.
I truly don't know because, at some point they're going
to split and get damaged by mowers hitting them
or trailers bumping into them.
It's just kind of part of the deal sometimes.
Some are lost obviously through fire, as we know here
at Bastrop all too well.
Flooding, uh, hurricane Harvey did a lot of damage to some of
the parks and I had to get those replaced in a hurried fashion.
Uh, even vandalism.
The fire at 2011 was actually just out here outside the
building, but uh, it was saved.
They were just spraying water on it.
A lot of sign damage at that time,
and it was ground zero for the big fire.
This building dates back to the 1940s when it was
rebuilt after a fire.
The original was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps.
They built furniture here for state parks,
they built boats for state parks,
in addition to the sign shop,
and the sign shop is the only thing that is still in operation
in this building right now.
[machine whirring]
I think, by now, in the four years, I think I've
made signs for each park in our system.
There might be a couple of parks that I haven't had an order
from yet, but for the most part I think I've gotten them all.
[click]
It is really not even that dusty in here.
The vacuum takes care of a lot of that.
It gets kind of loud; I wear ear covers.
So, if my wife is calling on the occasion,
sometimes I just don't hear her because I've got ear covers on.
- PRODUCER: And is it a good excuse?
[laughs]
- I'm not going to say that, so don't air that.
[laughs]
[upbeat music]
[whirring]
[upbeat music]
It's not a bad gig to have.
I enjoy doing what I do, I like doing it.
As I make these signs and know that they're going to be
mounted in various parks, I want to make sure that our visitors
have a good experience.
These signs are concise and to the point.
And let that visitor know which direction
they need to go to see a certain attraction.
- BOY: Oh, Dad, see that sign?
- WILLIE: My family, we do visit parks.
I do like to point out those that I've made
and those I didn't make.
I've looked at a lot of them, so I should know.
Not mine.
[ratchet]
I have said before that I am the best sign shop manager
that state parks has right now.
But I'm also the worst one.
So, take that for what it's worth.
[laughs]
[whirring]
I haven't caught up yet.
I don't know if I ever will, but I try.
I would like to just catch up and not have signs to make,
but I'll see if that ever happens.
[upbeat music]