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.
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.
It is safe to say, after an eventful trip we have had a nice
welcome to The Valley. Let the winter begin!
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