Settling In

We’ve been here a full two months and are feeling very at home in volunteer village. We have already had to say goodbye to Bob and Janice.  I met them through our blogs this past winter and we had a great time being ‘neighbors’ here until they left last week, to spend the rest of the summer visiting their kids that no longer live in Iowa. We’ll look forward to seeing them here again next summer.

[caption id="attachment_305" align="alignright" width="300"] Hosting Happy hour at Volunteer Village[/caption]

Summer is in full swing, the container garden is flourishing and producing food. Work at the Visitors Center is easy and fun. The weekends are long days in here but it’s a good gig overall. Shortly after we arrived it became apparent to the Rangers that we had skill and desire to work outside. Bob, our neighbor, worked with the Natural Resources team and immediately began ‘recruiting’ Champ.  As it turns out the team has been short a couple of people in recent years.

[caption id="attachment_308" align="alignleft" width="300"] 2017 Volunteer Breakfast[/caption]

At the annual volunteer breakfast, Bob told the Ranger we were interested in working on the NR team next year.  Later that afternoon I got an email from her asking if we were indeed interested and asking if we were willing to work an extra day here and there to become familiar with their projects and other team members. She expressed her ‘sadness’ that we wouldn’t be in the Visitors Center but agreed that we were a good fit for Natural Resources as well.  So, 2 months in we are already evolving into another role.

I figured out pretty quickly, that I had a more idle time than I really wanted, so decided to look for a part-time job. I looked up an old friend to has a local business that includes a retail location and in a few minutes I had a summer gig lined up. I’m working for my friends Jeff and Cindy at their store Strawberry Patch a few hours a week in Ankeny.  It’s a good outlet for me and will give us a little mad money to blow on our 2-month hiatus between Saylorville and Texas Parks and Wildlife this winter.

Champ started working on Tuesday’s with the NR team. He is loving it. Doing man’s work cutting down trees, trail maintenance and a host of other things. They found out he has many years experience operating heavy equipment in his former work life and will be getting him formally certified to operate their equipment. One of the staff shortages is their former operator. Needless to say, Champ is quite pleased that operating an assortment of loaders, bob cats, large ag tractors and the like will be his new ‘job’. Very manly!

I am going to take a more laid-back approach. We talked extensively and I think my role here at Saylorville will not be as a full time NR volunteer but rather, keep with my butterfly garden adoption, be a part time weekday volunteer at the VC.  That way I’ll get my mix of people contact and good old fashion manual labor, both in small doses, that make me the happiest. If Jeff and Cindy want me from year to year I’ll probably do that as well when I come back.  The adaptability and variety of volunteer work still amazes me at these early stages.

[caption id="attachment_309" align="alignright" width="300"] Trail leading into the woods next to our RV[/caption]

It goes without saying, we are quite happy with our decision to go nomadic.  A year ago, I was not working, we were still waiting to get an offer on the house and there were still a number of unknowns. This life was still a fabrication of our imaginations and conversations with seasoned RV volunteers. Now a mere 9 months into what we hope will be a 20 year adventure we can’t imagine living any other way. It is simply a perfect fit for us both. We know there will be bumps and challenges and maybe even a tragedy or two along the way, but such is life weather you live in a brick and mortar house or live like a nomad in your RV.  This life isn’t for everybody and we weren’t even positive it would be right for us. We couldn’t let the opportunity pass without at least trying and we couldn’t be happier or more content.

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite mantras:  If you can dream it, you can do it.

Until next time…