As I write this evening, the cold front has arrived. Cool, dry air is slamming into the dome of hot, moist tropical air that has dominated Iowa the past week. The weather station ticker detailing storm warnings has been ever present all day. In the hour since arriving home from work the temperature has dropped over 15 degrees. The windows are open and the fresh air is blowing through the motorhome.
Flood waters have receded for the most part. Saylorville Lake will officially conclude a summer season without the beaches officially opening. The spring flooding had almost subsided and the divers were schedule to come and inspect the lake bottom in the swimming areas when the torrential rains of late June inundated Iowa and resulted in flooding, the likes of which had not been seen here in nearly 10 years. Now, in August, shore line is exposed once again but the beaches will not open by official definition. It is quite something to walk down to the boat ramp and look at the water line on the light poles 15 feet in the air where the parking lot was lake bottom 30 days ago.
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Red Bar is theWater Crest line at boat launch parking lot.[/caption]Since then, Champ, along with the Natural Resources Team and the Maintenance Dept. at the lake have worked hard to bring facilities back to pre-flood condition. The is damage caused by the awesome power of water moving when and where it wants. A sink hole under part of the bike trail developed and one of the parking lots is still settling after several weeks of water moving over and under it. They are subtle things that go unnoticed by the visitor’s eye. Our maintenance team received a national service award for their hard, around the clock work to install pumps at the barrier dam that protects Polk City from flooding. I knew they were all busy that holiday weekend but didn’t realize how much they really did till I read the citation letter that came from the District Commander. Hat’s off to all of them for their dedication.
Three years ago, we were simply visitors, camping at Prairie Flower and launching the boat from Cherry Glen. We were blissfully ignorant to all that goes on behind the scenes when the water comes up. We didn’t know beaches had to be inspected by divers before buoys and swimming area markers were placed. We certainly didn’t know the difference between beach and shoreline. If there was sand it was a beach! We didn't even care much about designated swimming areas. We swam off the boat where we dropped anchor or put on the shore line with out much thought to what was below us. Now we know better. The dangers that exist swimming on shoreline are sobering now that we understand them and realize how much we didn’t know before.
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Sandpiper Beach with flood debris[/caption]We had our late summer Volunteer Meeting last week where everyone talks about their departure date, and whether they want to return to the same job next year. This is the time where you make your wishes known if you want a change of scenery in your volunteer duties here. Champ expressed interest in a new job. We’ll find out soon if they decide to place him in it. I will write the newsletters again next year and work with Natural Resourses when I can depending on how much I work in town, to pay for my health coverage. That will not be known till November when I do my renewal. The meeting was a reminder of how quickly our time in Iowa is coming to an end. Summers go fast for everyone. You blink and the great grandchild you held in your arms in the hospital last week is starting 4th grade! Summers in Iowa go something like this. School lets out in May. Independence Day comes and goes. The State Fair has it’s 10 day run. School Starts. Blizzards Come. Somewhere between school starting and blizzards we get out of dodge. I can’t believe we are looking forward to our third winter away from the freezer that is Iowa in the winter. I struggle with the thought of leaving the kids for 5 months. It wouldn’t matter if I saw them every day, I wouldn’t feel like I spent enough time with them. Especially the boys, who both live far enough from Des Moines, we can’t just drop in on them on a whim or vice-versa.
We still have lots of plans before we leave. My brother-in-law’s retirement party. Our wedding anniversary and couple more birthdays and our much anticipated trip to the Dominican Republic in October with the group we used to camp with regularly. It will go by in a flash and before we know what happened we will be knee deep in rural Georgia, Interpreting Jimmy Carter’s boyhood farm and home town to those who visit. Click on the link to check it out! We're are pretty excited to spend three months there this coming winter. https://www.nps.gov/jica/index.htm
It makes me dizzy thinking about it. For now, it's on with the week at hand.
Until next time...
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