The journey south has been completed and we attended Volunteer Orientation, along around 80 other work campers this morning. This year’s trip south was memorable. I have tried to qualify it in a single word and can’t come up with one. We seemed to alternate serene, lazy days with trying sometimes dangerous days. We had a great time visiting new places and meeting up with people we have met along the way over the past three years. Even though the motor home suffered some damage we are thankful that our bodies arrived intact.
From the beginning I have kept a list of campgrounds we have visited and would return to as well as places recommended by others who have stayed and loved. I even have specific sites on some of them. We took the advice of people we met from Ardmore, OK a couple of years ago and stayed at Murray Lake. We even got to spend an afternoon with them while we were there! We will definitely go back there when we pass through in the future. We also added Sandpiper RV Park in Galveston to our list of places to recommend or return to.
Dawn walk on the beach at Sandpiper RV Park in Galveston
We are settled in our site here in the area of the park inhabited mostly by volunteers. We aren’t completely segregated but are enjoying being in the same general area. A co-volunteer from Saylorville coincidentally ended up here this winter and is about 5 sites away from us. We have unpacked the yard ornaments, put up the flag and Iowa sign with our names. A couple of happy hours and several standing around talking with new neighbors for an hour or more are under our belts.
We have our work schedules and a general idea of our duties. Champ will be working for maintenance doing light work keeping the park nice and completing work orders for general repairs. I will be working in park's front office. Each of us will work 12 hours a week in trade for the site and utilities. This time it includes secure Internet via a modem assigned to us and a nice line up of cable channels. We are both confident we will be happy working here. As the season goes on it will be intersting to differentiate the experience of working for a private park versus a COE or State Park.
Yesterday, on the spur of the moment I took off on a birding adventure with our friends John and Cathy who spend their winters in the area. They were in persuit of a rare bird that had been sited at Estero Llano Grande State Park just a couple of miles from here. We did not see the elusive bird, but I saw five species I have never seen and got advice on where to see many others. It was a nice teaser to whet my birding appetite for the season. I can’t wait to get out with other experienced birders in the birding group here at the RV Park. Of course there will be many more outings with John and Cathy. The birding whim turned into dinner out at a local Taqueria that is now on our list of places to take others to this winter.
Female Vermilion Flycatcher Photo by: John Harrington
It is safe to say, after an eventful trip we have had a nice welcome to The Valley. Let the winter begin!
“Travel Safe!” It is a common as the thespian “Break a leg.” Those of us who travel know the very real dangers of being on the road. Most of the time it is uneventful. Sometimes, we experience a close call and it seems at least once a year we see an RV tipped over in the ditch or wadded up in an accident. Contents scattered all over the ditch and the RV crumpled up like a used paper fast food sack. It is a sobering reminder that you can’t be too careful while travelling.
Our trip south this year has been one of those trips that makes one wonder what will happen next. On our first day on the road we were enduring 40 mph sustained cross winds on I-80 on our way to the York NE exit where we would turn south directly into the wind on our way to Lindsborg Kansas. We are no strangers to pulling in high winds, having spent most of our lives in the Midwest. Driving along we heard a loud dull thud directly behind the driver’s seat and near the ceiling. We both decided that a canned good in the pantry fell over and slammed against the wall. Then, another louder thud and the lens for the fluorescent tube lights, along with both tubes came crashing down from the kitchen ceiling located directly behind the driving area. “What the hell?” we both said in unison. Champ looked out the side mirror and saw the entire slide out awning mechanism flapping in the wind slamming against the motorhome. The rolled-up awning had succumbed to the strong cross wind. The force of the wind had broken the locking mechanism on the awning framework, unrolled the awning turning it into a 22-foot long kite and then ripped the whole mechanism free. The only thing attaching it at all was the canvas. Not good. We were three miles from the next exit and left no choice but to pull over and deal with it on the side of the interstate. Champ who was a tower crane operator has absolutely no fear of heights and didn’t hesitate to grab a utility knife and climb up onto the roof, right there on the side of the road. Wind was howling, trucks were speeding by creating even more turbulence and I stood on the ground watching, with my heart beating out of my chest at the thought of him getting blown off the top of the motor home. He was pragmatic, I was terrified. In a few minutes Champ had the awning cut loose and stood out of the way while the wind slammed it down into the ditch. Once he was back on the ground and my heart was out of my throat, we stood there looking at the mangled framework and canvas and trying to figure out how to haul it. It wasn’t salvageable. We took a picture of it for the insurance company and against both our grains left it in the ditch, having no way to haul it.
What is left of our livingroom slide awning
Two days later after having a wonderful weekend in Lindsborg with family at the Swedish Festival we road out a terrible thunderstorm in Oklahoma with 70 mph winds and driving rain. As I laid in bed around 11 that night wondering if the rig would tip over, I thought I heard water dripping…. inside. That is never a good thing. I got up and went out to the living room and saw water dripping from an overhead cabinet. ‘Oh, crap.” I opened the top hinged cabinet door and water ran out at me. With no awning over the slide out the weak areas of the seal and caulking were totally exposed and obviously not working. We mopped up the puddles, put a fan on it, pulled in the slide out and went to bed. The next morning Champ inspected the locking mechanism box and re-caulked it. Then, last night in Galveston, another similar storm. The sound of water dripping inside at 2am when I stirred awake. This time it was dripping in front of the refrigerator. When I turned on the light the whole bulkhead of the slide was sagging with the weight of water that had leaked in. “What a trip” I thought to myself. We are having a great time for the most part but this whole slide-out awning thing is trying us both. The slide out came back in and is still in this afternoon while we wait for the 24-hour rain event to blow out to sea.
Enjoying a quiet moment at Lake Murray OK
This is the part where I must continually remind myself that we really do love this life, despite the challenges. Leaking slide outs are one of the worst things to deal with. They can cause long term damage in the form of rot and mold if not identified and fixed quickly. I laid awake in bed early Friday morning trying to see the good side. The leak isn’t over the bed. That is a very good thing. The slide out affected can be brought in without cutting off access to anything. We are living in about 80 sq. ft. less space today but at least we can get to everything. I share this RV life with someone who can fix virtually anything. We aren’t at the mercy of RV repair places of having to put it in a shop. He’ll get it fixed; he always does. Most importantly, neither one of us has been injured, despite a couple of dangerous situations.
With the slide in, Champ was able to inspect the top from the inside and found that the metal corner strip covering the long edge of the slide had no caulk at all only screws. I suppose with an awning protecting it, Winnebago decided caulk there was a place they could cut a corner. Water was flowing freely through the seam as it pooled on top of the unprotected slide out. All we need is a couple of dry warm days to caulk the seam and let it dry. We have dealt with several annoying leaks over the years. It is something of a cat and mouse game with the water. You identify a weakness in the seam, fix it and wait to see if the water finds another way in. Then, you fix that place and so on, until the water has nowhere to go but off the top of the slide and onto the ground where it belongs.
As I walked with Champ through Home Depot to buy more caulk for the repair, feeling a bit dejected, I couldn’t help but chuckle when I saw 6 five-gallon buckets clustered together in the aisle catching rainwater from their own leaky roof. It reminded me RV’s are a pain in the ass sometimes but so are houses. It isn’t the fault of the lifestyle that we are having such crappy luck this trip anymore that it is a houses fault that it gets damaged my wind and leaks like a sieve till it is fully repaired. We have the ability and know how to get it fixed. It’s having the patience to deal with it while we are on the road that is difficult this week. The sun will shine everyday once we get through today, a good stroke of luck in a very trying journey this fall. The insurance company will send an adjuster to assess the overall damage once we are settled in south Texas.
Lawnmowers and Christmas trees in the same aisle at Home Depot
In the end, I must remind myself that it is nice to spend the winter months in a place that sells lawn mowers and Christmas trees next to each other in the home improvement stores. Not a snow blower in sight! We will be on the road twice more between now and Tuesday and with any luck traveling safely.
A strange thing happened. I awoke this morning trying to grasp the notion that our six months in Iowa went by like a rambling active dream in a fitful night’s sleep. April 20th, the day we arrived at Saylorville last spring feels like both yesterday and a short lifetime ago. The 2019 summer season at home saw many joyous events.
Our first day back we went to the zoo with kids and grandkids. The pace of events picked up as we held our annual Mother’s Day Breakfast with all our kids and grandkids, celebrated the spring birthdays. We started our work for the park and settled into our routine. Our oldest grandson’s wedding was in mid June then the heat of July settled over us. As we savored the summer, we didn’t notice the tail wind of time passing that was picking up behind us.
Holidays and more birthdays came and went. Friends visited us here at Volunteer Village. I was able to spend time with family I had not had contact with for years and my heart was happy. There were others we fully intended to see but, it didn't. Grand kids were present each week several times most weeks. The grass that, earlier in the season, demanded mowing every few days was starting to go dormant in the heat and I worked on other projects around the lake in between researching and writing items for the newsletters. I had regular play dates with my best friend and that subtle tail wind pushed on my back, but I didn’t notice.
We celebrated my daughter’s 30th milestone birthday and several other summer birthdays. We worked our shifts at the State Fair for the lake and the heat of summer kept us suspended in the joy of being home.
Then, all a sudden it happened. Four times pulling out of our site to join our old camping group, three village potlucks, three lake sponsored volunteer events and uncounted spontaneous village community campfires were a memory along-side the 8 weeks I worked for my friend and our 720 volunteer hours at the lake. When I look back on the lightning fast season it’s like watching a movie reel of the big events punctuated by clips of scenes from Little League games, being at the park with grandkids, being at our kids houses, outings with friends. The memory of this past summer is like watching a time lapsed video of a flower sprouting, growing, blooming and drying down in the span of 10 seconds.
Hunter is very glad to see Grandpa!
Riding the train at the zoo
Fielding a line drive
New baby in the family!
Isaac birdwatching with me
Got Mulch?
Building her new nest
Workout as he tests monkey bars
Sydney's Birthday in April
Nora with me on a photo shoot
The Happy Couple
Nora and Isaac almost 5 years old already
Sailboat heading out of the marina at sunset
Water Break Time
On path driving just ahead of the storm
Powerwashing Bridge 5
Judy standing on the stump from the giant Oak that fell at the VC
Prairie Flowers scavenger hunt with the boys
Areal view of the fair from the sky glider
Nora and Grandpa park time
Staying cool on a hot day
Camping like old times
John setting up the scope to watch shorebirds
Craft time on a cool morning
Campfire time
Kelsy and I
Two of my favorite gentlemen Will and Don
Fall dinner
Parking lot rides
Walking with Aubry on the trail
The gang at Steve's
Goodnight Saylorville
I woke up this morning, knowing the week will buzz by with preparations to move our life 1600 miles south to escape winter. Tasks and last of the season visits will fill the next 4 days. We are both fighting the yearly fall battle with the sadness of leaving loved ones behind and anticipation of adventure that our trip south holds. We will have our first experience working for a private resort this year. We'll visit new places and meet new people. We will reunite with friends we have made on the road and spend next weekend with relatives at a festival on our first stop south. With a heavy shroud of the familiar mixture of angst and excitement we will pull up the jacks and bring in the slides in 4 days and a wake up. We notice that tail wind at our backs now, because it is cold. As we drive away, we will wonder to ourselves, maybe even out loud. “Where the hell did the summer go?”
It’s that time of year. Things got real this weekend when I went for my fall haircut. As I sat in the chair visiting with Erin it really started to sink in that it is time to leave already. It’s such a silly thing to mark such a major event as leaving for the winter, a haircut at her shop marks my return home and my departure each year. This weekend was also the last put luck of the season in volunteer village. It is a Luau theme each year, although the weather wasn’t very tropical feeling, we sported our Hawaiian shirts and dresses over long sleeve T-shirts and leggings and of course wore our leis. We feasted had a big campfire and talked about our upcoming winter plans and how much fun we all had this season. We are fully aware of our good fortune to be able to volunteer here each summer. At first it was simply the proximity and familiarity of the park. We have grown even more connected to this place after three years of working out here all summer. It’s hard to imagine doing anything else from April to October. The other facet of our good fortune are the dynamics of the village atmosphere. It is quite a tight knit little community. In our years here so far three gatherings have evolved. The season kick-off happy hour that Champ and I host. The mid-season fish fry that Don holds when his deep freeze is filled with his summer catch and the Luau hosted by Rena and Pete that we had last night.
Ranger Coty enjoying the fire with us
Love a good climbing tree
Judy, Rhonda and Leslie
Pete manning the grill
Rena talking to the grandkids
Two of my favorite gentlemen Will and Don
Piling on grandpa's lap
Hunter the owl
Yard games at the Luau
We had a last hurrah of sorts with three of the younger grandkids that we have watched the most this summer. They all came yesterday afternoon, joined us for our party and spend the night. An eight year old and 2 five year old’s kept us hopping. As we enjoyed the evening with our volunteer family last night I couldn’t help but smile watching the kids run around in the dark, playing their own made up games and hooting like owls from the low crotch of a big tree near the shelter were we were gathered. It brought back memories of how much fun we had as kids when, we were allowed to play outside after dark. It’s a simple pleasure in life that is too infrequent these days.
Picking up acorns by the bucket full
Craft time on a cool morning
Hanging out with Don
A visit to their favorite Nature Center at Jester Park
We delivered them all home late this afternoon, exhausted and a little stinky but well-fed and happy, toting along a couple of fun crafts that we made to show their mom’s.
Having all the kids in one place is truly a double-edged sword. They are nearby all summer, but it seems to get harder to pry ourselves away each fall. The Old Farmer’s Almanac winter forecast comes out around this time of year, and that jolts me back to reality. As much as we miss the kids, neither one of us can fathom enduring an Iowa winter ever again after escaping them for the past three. The southern United States fills ups with people just like us who cry a river, collectively when we get to missing the kids as we sit and sun ourselves by the pool in mid-January.
