Day 168 / 197 Finding Ones Happy Place

Saylorville Lake Sunny 85 Degrees

One of the answers to the question that has been on my mind lately is about finding ones happy place. You know the one I’m talking about. It’s that physical space where you go when you need to decompress, get yourself centered after a busy day, or escape a stressful situation. It comes in many forms. For some it is a room in their house. Others it is church or maybe and AA meeting. For a vast majority of humans, it is a physical space outside. It’s no surprise that the outdoors tends to be a place of solace. After all, human kind has been around some 200,000 years. The industrial world with it’s synthetic, mechanical sounds and smells has only been around about 200 years, a mere one tenth of one percent of the time man has walked the earth. That’s some serious evolutionary influence.

We crave the organic sounds and smells of an outdoor space. That is why we buy candles that claim to smell like mountain air or sea breeze or dew kissed leaves. You don’t need a $12.00 candle for that, just go outside!

Back to my answer. When you move about the country volunteering for different parks you accumulate a library of those outdoor spaces that make you feel grounded and whole. It’s really cool when you stop and think about it. My connection to the outdoors started at a very young age. I grew up in a house dropped in the middle of 5 acres of dense White Oak timber with a ravine that surrounded ¾ quarters of the property. The other quarter was the dirt road. I had two sisters younger than me 5 and 7 years to be exact. As the oldest, 5 years removed from the other two, I existed it this weird no man’s land of birth order. I was who I was.  The other two were babies and constantly referred to as ‘the girls’ by my mother. I was a girl too, but in my parents mind I was separate from the other two. As a result, I felt very isolated from my immediate family and in the midst of my mom trying to cope with two high maintenance toddlers and my dad busy running the family business for grandpa I had a lot of time on my hands when I was young. I retreated to the woods on a regular basis to get away from the busyness of the household and try to figure out my place in the world. My favorite spot was a big boulder left behind by the glaciers, on the north side of our property right next to the creek. I would sit there and dig up cool glacial rocks, listen the water gurgling over the stones, the birds and squirrels fussing about and the occasional car barreling down our road.  When I was in the outdoors alone I knew who I was. Fast forward 40 some years, three careers, two kids and I find myself back in my place where I know who I am. Smack dab in the middle of the natural world.

[caption id="attachment_1092" align="alignleft" width="243"] My view as I write[/caption]

I have always had a love affair with Colorado and its wild, remote, unbridled ways. I fell completely in love with the Wildlife Refuge we worked for our first winter. Upon returning there for a week on our way to South Texas last winter I validate my love for the place. It wasn’t puppy love that first winter. Those 7 days last fall were special at Balcones. Here at Saylorville I sit on my patio and type after a hectic day at my part time job and feel the breeze move over me, the smells of the timber and lake. Listen to the Red Bellied Woodpecker call out from the tree behind my motorhome, crickets chirping and my tabby cat Buster whine because his lead can’t  reach me. All organic sounds that calm my soul and make me feel good. When you live in the campground you get that whenever you want it.

So, the answer? If you find your center in the outdoors and you travel around doing it, your ‘happy place’ is lots of places not just one place. The number of those places grows with your time on the road.  That’s the best part for this tree hugger.

Until next time…

 

Day 164 / 201 Fair Day

Saylorville Lake Sunshine 85 Degrees (perfect State Fair weather)

The Famous Iowa State Fair began on Thursday. Over a million people from all over the world will visit the huge fair over the next 10 days. Native Iowans have a mindset programmed in their DNA that makes them believe if they don’t go at least one day of the fair they will be doomed to an eternity in purgatory with other bad Iowans who weren’t fair goers. It’s an Iowa thing. I’ve been to state fairs in other states. This one truly is one of the best.

We are starting to realize that we have crossed the line from novice full timers to the ones that newer full-timers or what I call full-time dreamers seek out for insight into the life style. When we were starting to talk seriously with each other about actually doing this we started picking the brains of every full timer we came across. You learn to sniff them out. They (now we) have a certain subtle energy that is easily recognizable by certain other campers who want to be full time. It’s hard to explain. We are less the brain pickers now and more the pickees. I love it either way. I love talking to the warriors who have been at it nearly two decades, as much as I like talking to the dreamers who want to know how we find gigs, or how we brought ourselves to trade our foundation and roots for wheels.

Today we worked the Saylorville Lake booth at the State Fair and talked to all sorts of people. We talked to a couple who dream of doing what we do. One of my best friend’s sons stopped by and said hi, and best of all my old office mate and boss, who I still consider a friend even though we don’t see each other much, was at the fair and stopped by with her family. It made my heart so happy to see her! It has been nearly two years since we last saw each other and the first thing she said is, “you look so happy”. She meant it and she was right. It’s that energy thing I mentioned earlier. I don’t know what it is, but there is a certain look that people who are truly content with their lives and unburdened by the daily grind of the rat race have. It’s kind of like the energy of someone who is totally swept off their feet by a new love.

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After we finished our shift we “Did the Fair” with Steve and Sue, Champ’s brother and sister in law who we are close to spent a lot of time with before we “sold everything and took off” (as Steve puts it). We had a great day! It was another of those times when you try to wring out as much quality time as you can, knowing we will be apart for the winter.

As we enter, full throttle into the last half of our summer season at home we are becoming so busy we don’t know what day it is. Late summer birthdays, The Fair, an extra volunteer gig that I picked up, a new baby born, that we have yet to see, what will likely be a weekend motorcycle trip to the Loess Hills this fall that just struck me today as a must do before we leave this fall and an out of town wedding next weekend, is making us both tired just thinking about it. In the meantime, we try to cram 12 months of family and kid time into the 5 ½ months we are in Iowa.  Plains Georgia will be a change of pace akin to getting off a Japanese Super Train and hopping into a covered wagon. We may need it by then to recover from the break-neck speed that life is travelling this summer. When I decided to start volunteering for the new Nature Center, Champ laughed at me and said, “You’re just like your Aunt Pat, you’ll be 100 years old and still have your finger in a dozen pies and love every minute of it”. He’s right I can’t get enough now that I have time. I ran across a Gandhi quote for the last newsletter I wrote that fits this wonderful life so well.

“The best way to find yourself, is to lose yourself in service to others”

Until Next Time…

Day 159 / 206

Saylorville Lake Cloudy 90 Degrees

I love an opportunity to share my passion for nature and especially in the capacity of being a part of something that introduces the natural world to those who do not experience it in their everyday lives. Watching someone learn about the wonders of the natural world really charges my batteries. That passion is something that I share with my mother. It is one of very few planes where we truly connect.

[caption id="attachment_1080" align="alignnone" width="300"] Jester Park Nature Center view from back[/caption]

Iowa has a really special new place where that very thing will happen. The Jester Park Nature Center held its grand opening yesterday. I was completely enchanted with the place. It has been talked about for over 10 years. Aggressive fund raising and the coming together of minds from all over the country has resulted in a state of the art, stunning center where people can come and learn, get their hands dirty, squish wetlands muck between their bare toes, learn to fish, shoot a gun or a bow. You name it, if it has anything to do with Iowa’s natural world you can learn about it here. The place is amazing and beautiful!

[caption id="attachment_1081" align="alignright" width="300"] Mom[/caption]

I called mom last week and asked if she wanted to go to the Open House with me. She used to volunteer at the Warren County Conservation Office when I was younger.  I believe those were some of the happiest years of her life. It made my own heart happy to watch her yesterday. I know she was reliving some of her happy times, when she volunteered herself. We had a great afternoon, two nature nerds getting off watching kids and adults alike experience things they normally don’t in their suit and tie, run the kids to endless activities daily lives. Everyone was happy there. Maybe it was the free ice cream, maybe it was just that they were outside and in a different environment. The energy was good.

That brings me to yet another answer to the infamous question. If you are a tree hugger, like me, and you get charged up going to events like this, you have the inside track to all these events. When you volunteer at one place you tend to be very in tune with other activities and volunteer opportunities at neighboring or partnering places that you would otherwise likely miss if you were just passing through as a visitor.  I signed up to volunteer a few hours for them the rest of the summer, just to be involved and learn more myself so I can share it with others. Jester is just across the lake from us. It’s one of the best places to watch shore birds and water fowl in the state. We took some volunteer friends there when they visited Iowa last year.

[caption id="attachment_1082" align="alignleft" width="300"] Franklins Gull Feeding[/caption]

Yesterday was a win-win. I spent some good time with mom and I got to see an Iowa State Parks dream come true.

Until next time…

Day 157 / 208 Snowbird Guilt

Saylorville Lake Sunshine 95 Degrees

Yesterday was pretty special for me. I woke up Friday morning with plans to pick up Hunter and Isaac (our daughter’s boys) and take them shopping for some things for the upcoming soccer season, Isaac’s first. I had no idea if he would even be willing to go. Last time we tried to pick them up he had a melt down and we only took Hunter. Isaac turns 4 next week and was two when we started leaving in the winter. He is hard to win over when we return in the spring. A risk we knew we were taking when we jumped off the full-time adventure cliff.  My grandma’s heart sung when I walked in the house and was greeted with smiles and excitement for the day ahead. He said bye to his dad and off we went, no negotiating, no hesitance. It was awesome. We had a great time shopping and going out for lunch, just me and the boys. We ended the afternoon, back at our site and Champ got some good time with them before Kelsy came to pick them up after work. It will be a yearly process with the little ones winning them over just in time to leave again. The worst of it is, that is only a couple of the kids. Our granddaughter Nora is 90 miles away, but she seems to always be happy to see us. It just takes more planning to see her.  We have two young great grandkids 45 minutes away who are quickly becoming strangers and that breaks our hearts. My rational mind says to me that’s normal for lots of grandparents, I just didn’t think it would be us. I also have to remind myself, that life is super busy these days. Kids are busy with their jobs, and day to day life. Even when we lived here year-round we didn’t see them as much as we wanted.  Life is about choices.  I think the reason it bothers me so much is that I grew up next door to my paternal grandmother and was close to her. I cherish that relationship. I realize now, I was very lucky to have had that. Most snow birds will tell you the worst part is leaving the kids, but alas, we live our retirement years the way we live them. All life choices come with consequences, we pick our poison and our nectar. April to October, we savor every moment with the little ones (and the big ones), they sure don’t stay little for very long, but on the other hand we won’t be young and healthy forever.

August will be an incredibly busy month. Birthday’s, an out of town wedding and a couple of shifts working the booth for the lake at the Iowa State Fair. August will fly by, September will go by in a blink and before we know what happened we’ll be preparing to leave for our third winter in the south. It makes my head spin some days.

Until next time…

Day 153 / 212

Saylorville Lake – Sunshine 78 Degrees

Our daughter and her family are in Colorado for the first time. I’m jealous, but I’m also glad she is getting to experience the wonder of the Rocky Mountains in the summer time. I fell in love with the place as a teen ager and the love affair continues today. I say all the time, if the kids weren’t all in Iowa I’d be in the mountains this time of year.

I’ve spent the past five months chronicling our life as full time RV work campers. A lot has happened in that time. When I started on March 1^st, I would have never imagined that my sixth post would be about Champ having emergency surgery, or that we would experience flooding in both parks we have worked in during this ½ year. Life is like that, you just never know what lurks around the corner. It may be a disaster, or it may be your soul mate you just never know.

I have written about the question “What is it like?” from many angles. In some ways it is very unique, in others it is very much like a traditional bricks and sticks life. There are a number of challenges exclusive to the RV lifestyle and some rewards that one wouldn’t realize in a stationary life. Lately I am excited that my Paleo diet that seeks out local, whole foods will have a different sort of variety, since we move about in different regions and climates. I can’t wait to see what a winter farmers market in the south east United States will offer this winter.

When I decided to write this blog, the one thing I didn’t want it to turn into was a daily dear diary or social media style play by play. I want to write meaningful things about this wonderful lifestyle. The good the bad and the ugly. Having written, for the most part, daily for the past several months I feel like the hum-drumness is setting in. My ambition of writing daily for a year was lofty, I knew that. I know a lot of people who read my posts daily and I love hearing that someone reads my blog and finds in interesting. I want it to stay that way. I hope everyone continues to follow me and tell their friends. I love sharing our life with people who dream of doing this or just want to see what it’s like.

In the interest of keep it fresh, I’m going to go back to posting when there is actually something to talk about or if I find myself thinking deeply about some aspect of our life and feel the need to share it with the world of RV’ers or RV dreamers. It may come in consecutive days or a week may go by depending on what is going on.  Many of you have subscribed and I hope more do, as we move into our second year. If you click the box below an article that says “Notify me of new posts via email”, enter your email address to subscribe you will get a notification with a direct link to my blog when I post a new article. That’s it, this isn’t a market gig and I’m not trying to sell anything. Many see my posts in their Facebook news feed. Changes to FB will impact my interface between my blog software and Facebook. We have some exciting stuff coming up that is planned and of course the forces of the universe will add their own flavor to our well laid plans. I am going to let the second half of the year unfold in its own time with its own excitement or lack thereof and write along with the ebb and flow. Frankly, after the events of the past 9 months or so, I could use a little ‘lack thereof’.

Until next time…

 

Day 151 / 214 The Aftermath

Saylorville Lake Sunshine 73 Degrees

We basked in another mild day in Iowa. The heat is returning the end of the week. Before we know it, we will be getting ready to flee south from the inevitable cold that will settle in by November. Iowa is a state of extremes. Heat- Cold / Drought- Flood. There doesn’t seem to be much in between in the weather here.

I finished waxing the motorhome this morning. My goal of not leaving the lake area this weekend was realized. I still have a long list of little projects I want to get done but I made a good dent this weekend.

[caption id="attachment_1070" align="alignleft" width="300"] Tree Top Debris[/caption]

The water is now back in the confines of the lakeshore for the most part. The beaches remain underwater and some of the natural flood plain areas are still holding water. I think the worst part of flooding is the after math. I am always amazed at the carnage that is left behind when the water recedes. It’s amazing to walk along a trail, or what is left of it and see a tree limb 15 feet up in a tree. The smell is the worst. The dense stand of timber that surrounds volunteer village is serving as an air filter for the stench of rotting vegetation that hangs in the air where some 15 feet of flood water stood just two weeks ago.

The foot bridge that connects my favorite walking trail is intact but not the beautiful place it was five weeks ago with its tree canopy tunnel reflecting morning light on my walks. The trees are covered in dirt from the flood water and limbs that washed in are tangled in the mess of branches that are knotted up from being submerged for several weeks.  The warblers and song birds are gone now. The only birds that are active are the tree swallows, who are feasting on the population explosion of insects. As we made our way to the parking lot area that just became dry yesterday a big flock of Franklin’s Gulls were sitting on a patch of tree debris. We walked past the field that Champ and Will planted with sweet grass for the deer and he wondered out loud if they would have him replant for fall food.

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Rain clouds were in the area. As we rounded the corner to come up the road back to our RV we were treated to the site of a shower in the distance and a bright ray of sunset striking through the middle. It was quite beautiful. The picture doesn’t do it justice.

Work awaits us both, tomorrow. Champ will continue with flood recovery here at the lake, I will go back to the overhaul at the store that will likely take most of this week to complete. I am looking forward to dinner out with my sister this week. It will be the first time I’ve seen her since returning home in April. August will be busy with birthdays, and an out of town wedding. The summer is really ticking by quickly!

Until next time…

Day 150 / 215

Saylorville Lake - Cloudy 74 Degrees

You’ve all heard a retired person say, “I work more now than when I worked!”  That’s kind of how Champ’s volunteer work here is going now that the flood waters are receding.  I am having a similar spurt at my part time job in town. My friend decided he wants to completely overhaul the displays at the store and we started last Sunday. The project will likely take another week. Champ’s flood clean-up work will take much longer. After a long week of hard physical work, we both said we would take it easy this weekend and be ‘retired’.  It’s not quite turning out that way.

We woke up this morning and greeted the cool 56-degree morning and saw that the high would only be in the mid 70’s. Both of us simultaneously launched into big projects. I have been wanting to wax the motorhome for some time. Today became a day to work on conquering my fear of ladders. I spent this morning washing and waxing the driver’s side of the motorhome. I wonder if there is anyone who remembers movies of the 80's who can apply wax to a vehicle without hearing Mr. Miagi's voice in their head? My task required lots of standing at the top of a big ladder. Something I wouldn’t have even attempted last summer. Champ came around and checked on me periodically to be sure I wasn’t in a heap on the ground and even took a couple of pictures in case I never did it again. Those who know me best know I rarely stand with my feet planted anywhere but on the ground. I have the other side and the front and back to do tomorrow. More reconditioning my brain to not be afraid.  

Champ gathered material from old projects and build me a nice rack to keep my computer, folders, bird books and my Paleo bible that I refer to daily right now. Before, things were kind of piled in the corner on my side of the table where I spend most of my indoor waking hours. Now things are nice and organized, the way I prefer them. My neat-freaks heart is happy with my new custom build storage. Courtesy of my talented husband.  When we started this chapter, we went through all our credit cards deciding which ones to keep.  The Menards card was one of the first to go. We never thought we would need a home improvement store much in this life. Wrong! We go to Menards and Lowes regularly. I am continually surprised at how many little projects we do around the ‘house’ these days.

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I took time out and went to a fascinating lecture over at the Visitor’s Center about the geological history of Central Iowa. I’ve been a rock hound all my life and know some basic history about the glaciers and oceans that were once here. This was the best hour I’ve spent in a long time. I was thrilled to see that the promotion I did of the event in the newsletter paid off. The auditorium was full of fellow nerds, some toting in boxes of fossils and rocks for Michael to help them identify and learn more about.

All in all, it was a very satisfying day. I worked hard again and loved that I can do the work I want to. I waxed by hand for the exercise. Like I said in an earlier post, we take every opportunity we get to stay fit and healthy. I’ll get another good workout tomorrow. So much for holding down the lawn chair this weekend. That’s okay.

Until next time…