Home at Saylorville Lake

We arrived at Saylorville Lake Volunteer Village the second week of April. We’re meeting and getting to know our new neighbors as they arrive and are excited about our new digs for the summer. We are not strangers to this place by any means. We were introduced here the summer of 2001 and have been together ever since. We have camped here regularly every summer for the past 16 years and this place remains special to us. It is also centrally located to our three kids and their families and most of our friends. In the realm of RV workcamping, you might say we hit the jackpot when we were offered the Visitor’s Center position here.

[caption id="attachment_266" align="alignnone" width="300"] View to the north from the VC Deck[/caption]

We have had a chance to see all three kids and most of the grand kids. We’re making our way around to see friends that we missed this winter. The funny thing to me is we are also in the process of getting to medical appointments, eye exams etc. I realized we are now the snowbirds that were my bank customers for so many years. I remember them talking about their routine when they came back to Iowa each spring. Doctors, banks, grand kids not necessarily in that order. For me a hair appointment is coming. I got lazy and didn’t get my hair cut all winter. The pony tail is my preferred style these days and I’m kind of set in my ways and didn’t want to have to explain my mop to a new stylist. I love the person who has cut my hair for years and I didn’t want to miss a chance to go see her. I do kind of feel sorry for Erin, since she will have to wade through the mess of overgrown layers, kind of like going into a flower bed in the spring and cleaning out the winter mess.

Our ‘job’ is to man the Visitor’s Center 20 hours a week, which is to say we get to visit with people who are visiting the area, talk to them about what there is to do here and sell things from the gift shop. I am surprised at how much we didn’t know about this place having spent so much time here over the years.  Our new role has given us a perspective we didn’t have as campers. We can tell you every nook and cranny of the  Prairie Flower campground and the lake shoreline from our years camping and boating. I hate to admit, we had only visited the Visitor’s Center once over the years and were quite unaware of the extensive habitat management that is going on behind the scenes, the secondary interpretive trails and the number of education programs that take place here at the lake. It is quite a fresh new face to us.

I returned from Texas with the ‘birding’ bug and am seeing Iowa through a new set of eyes. I’m quite sure these birds have been here all along. The difference now is, their presence resonates with me and I’m enjoying seeing and hearing a nice variety of birds; some here to stay for the summer, others, are migrating to points further north and I’ll know to watch for them again late this summer or early fall as they make their way back south.

Our new friends from Texas will be stopping here for several days on their way to a NWR further north and I wanted to be sure John and Cathy got to experience to good birding while in Iowa. I have learned that one of the best birding opportunities exists right here at Saylorville!  Who knew? It will be fun to go with them and see what birds are here that my untrained ear and eye hasn’t noticed yet.

As the summer goes by we’ll slip into our old routine of family events and spending time with friends. The most striking difference will be our absence from the camping group. We’ll visit the group campsite but to pull the camper out of volunteer village for a weekend at another park with the group will be far too involved given our permanent lifestyle. I’m excitedly planning my new container vegetable and flower garden and have started assembling my supplies. I have a good friend and a daughter who want yard and garden help, so I won’t miss gardening as much as I thought I might. In fact, I’ll probably get to do more of it since I don’t work full time any longer. An unexpected bonus!

We know where we will be working in Texas next winter, so for now our only job is to enjoy where we are and look forward to all the new experiences that await!

Until next time…