Home at Saylorville Lake

We arrived at Saylorville Lake Volunteer Village the second week of April. We’re meeting and getting to know our new neighbors as they arrive and are excited about our new digs for the summer. We are not strangers to this place by any means. We were introduced here the summer of 2001 and have been together ever since. We have camped here regularly every summer for the past 16 years and this place remains special to us. It is also centrally located to our three kids and their families and most of our friends. In the realm of RV workcamping, you might say we hit the jackpot when we were offered the Visitor’s Center position here.

[caption id="attachment_266" align="alignnone" width="300"] View to the north from the VC Deck[/caption]

We have had a chance to see all three kids and most of the grand kids. We’re making our way around to see friends that we missed this winter. The funny thing to me is we are also in the process of getting to medical appointments, eye exams etc. I realized we are now the snowbirds that were my bank customers for so many years. I remember them talking about their routine when they came back to Iowa each spring. Doctors, banks, grand kids not necessarily in that order. For me a hair appointment is coming. I got lazy and didn’t get my hair cut all winter. The pony tail is my preferred style these days and I’m kind of set in my ways and didn’t want to have to explain my mop to a new stylist. I love the person who has cut my hair for years and I didn’t want to miss a chance to go see her. I do kind of feel sorry for Erin, since she will have to wade through the mess of overgrown layers, kind of like going into a flower bed in the spring and cleaning out the winter mess.

Our ‘job’ is to man the Visitor’s Center 20 hours a week, which is to say we get to visit with people who are visiting the area, talk to them about what there is to do here and sell things from the gift shop. I am surprised at how much we didn’t know about this place having spent so much time here over the years.  Our new role has given us a perspective we didn’t have as campers. We can tell you every nook and cranny of the  Prairie Flower campground and the lake shoreline from our years camping and boating. I hate to admit, we had only visited the Visitor’s Center once over the years and were quite unaware of the extensive habitat management that is going on behind the scenes, the secondary interpretive trails and the number of education programs that take place here at the lake. It is quite a fresh new face to us.

I returned from Texas with the ‘birding’ bug and am seeing Iowa through a new set of eyes. I’m quite sure these birds have been here all along. The difference now is, their presence resonates with me and I’m enjoying seeing and hearing a nice variety of birds; some here to stay for the summer, others, are migrating to points further north and I’ll know to watch for them again late this summer or early fall as they make their way back south.

Our new friends from Texas will be stopping here for several days on their way to a NWR further north and I wanted to be sure John and Cathy got to experience to good birding while in Iowa. I have learned that one of the best birding opportunities exists right here at Saylorville!  Who knew? It will be fun to go with them and see what birds are here that my untrained ear and eye hasn’t noticed yet.

As the summer goes by we’ll slip into our old routine of family events and spending time with friends. The most striking difference will be our absence from the camping group. We’ll visit the group campsite but to pull the camper out of volunteer village for a weekend at another park with the group will be far too involved given our permanent lifestyle. I’m excitedly planning my new container vegetable and flower garden and have started assembling my supplies. I have a good friend and a daughter who want yard and garden help, so I won’t miss gardening as much as I thought I might. In fact, I’ll probably get to do more of it since I don’t work full time any longer. An unexpected bonus!

We know where we will be working in Texas next winter, so for now our only job is to enjoy where we are and look forward to all the new experiences that await!

Until next time…

The First 6 Months

Last week marked the six month milestone of our life as full time RV volunteers.  I must say it has been everything we imagined it could be and then some. Personal myths I had about the lifestyle have been dispelled and new revelations I never imagined have emerged.

As we make our way back to Iowa from our winter home in Texas Hill Country it is finally hitting home with us that we do not own property anymore. Yes, we are returning to Iowa and all that is familiar there. But ‘going home’ means something entirely different. It is now a concept, rather than a tangible place. We are lucky in that virtually all of our family is located within a 100-mile radius. Many of those we have met on the road had kids, grand kids and siblings scattered all over the continent. I have realized how incredibly lucky we are to have our kids and siblings all in the same place. That is what home means to us now.  So, to those who asked me over the winter, “has it sunk in yet?”  I can finally say, “Yes, it is starting to”.   Do we have any regrets?  Absolutely not!

One of the big myths we both shared about embarking on this lifestyle, is that the number of years we would do it would be determined by the number of years we were both alive and healthy. As we meet people we realize that death or major illness won’t necessarily force us back into a brick and mortar home, quite the opposite. We met many this winter who have been widowed and the common thought is that this was the life they lived, why would they change? They return to the same places as guests or volunteers and carry on. In some cases the RV was traded to something more suitable to a single person. But death of a spouse does not equal death of the lifestyle. We met others who carried on even though there was a major health issue with one of them. We spent 30 days next to a couple who had endured the husband suffering from some sort of infection that resulted in the amputation of his left leg just above the knee. He was working to perfect the fitting of a prosthetic leg and learning how to get around with it, while we were neighbors in November. It never crossed their mind to sell the RV and buy another house because of it. As a result of meeting these people and having ‘what if’ conversations with other Full Timer’s the conversations are more about what kind of RV will we get or what kind of work will we seek out, not where will be buy a  conventional home. I’m sure there are some who would make the choice to come off the road, but we have found that we don’t believe either one of us will want that when the inevitable happens.

We have learned to keep travel plans fluid. Severe weather is a real threat when your home is not anchored into the ground by footings or a basement foundation. However, that is an advantage given modern weather forecasting and the fact that RV parks and campgrounds are plentiful. We put that into practice on our return trip to Iowa this spring.  Bad weather? No worries, we’ll simply stay another day or take a different route.

I don’t miss gardening as much as I thought I would. The refuge allowed me all the hours I wanted working in their landscaping.  I spent as many hours planning my new container garden and researching the nuances of that type of food production as I have in past years planning my garden in my old back yard. I am just as excited as any other year to start growing vegetables and flowers.  My daughter and I have discussed building raised gardens in her new yard. Heck, I may get to do more gardening than ever as a result of our lifestyle change. Who’d have thunk it?

Champ, a prolific modifier and fabricator, has stayed plenty busy making tweaks and improvements to the RV.  Even without a shop and all the modern tools, he has made all sorts of improvements to the RV. Building out custom storage areas, moving or adding electrical outlets to suit our specific needs. We even have a dedicated outlet with a switch inside to operate outdoor Christmas decorations! He does miss his welder, I think. There have been a couple of things that he couldn’t do. Not the least of which was we traded our truck just before heading south and our hitch set up was not compatible with the truck set up. Had he still owned a welder and had a garage it would have been an afternoon project to made the necessary modifications. Instead the welding shop couldn’t get the work done in our time frame so we had to borrow a hitch from a friend that was compatible and wait till we return home this spring to get the work done at home by a trusted experienced welder that Champ has known for decades. Good thing we have managed to convert most of our friends from travel trailer owners to 5^th wheel owners. It was a huge favor, and much appreciated.

We’ll be ‘home’ in a few days.  As we settle into our digs at Saylorville and get to know our new companions in volunteer village we’ll enter into the next six months without some old myths in our minds and an ever broadening outlook on our new lifestyle. We are so excited to see our kids and grand kids we are both about to come out of our skin. We feel something like the proverbial horse who can see the barn. The closer we get the more we want to get there. On the other hand, we have our Texas ‘job’ lined up for next winter and we look forward to returning to Texas with its warm weather and warm-hearted people.

The cats are enduring one last leg of travel home. They get stressed but recover quickly. Soon they will be in a new site and will stay there longer than they have stayed anywhere since we extracted them from their ideal cat life running in and out of the house at will, before they even knew what a collar was.

For now, the sun is shining and the road is smooth.

Until next time…

Annie's Diary Entry 4-2-17

[caption id="attachment_75" align="alignnone" width="300"] Annie[/caption]

My name is Annie, I’m a beautiful calico and I live with another cat named Buster. He’s gray and has stripes. He’s also very fat and warm to sleep with. There are two humans who live with us. The fuzzy man and the barefoot lady. They’re not bad for humans, though I’m not sure how smart they are sometimes. Even though we have names they call us all sorts of things like they can’t remember what to call us. We know what they mean though and they are always nice to us and make sure we have food and water so we don’t  have to hunt  to eat.

[caption id="attachment_21" align="alignright" width="300"] Buster[/caption]

I used to live in a big house and got to go outside whenever I wanted. There was a time when I could go outside and climb trees to chase the birds, I laid on the roof of the big house a lot. I really liked it up there. There was also a big cornfield and barn. I went there every day to hunt or sleep in the cool dirt.

The humans had another house that sat in the back yard. I liked it when it was there, I would lay under it and watch everything.  Sometimes it was gone, but they always brought it back for me to lay under for shade.

One day a long time ago they let me go in the little house. It was really neat. It smelled like the humans but not like us. Me and Buster went in and rubbed our scent all over it. We liked it. Then one day, when we were in the little house, all the walls moved and the house got really small and it was hard to find our way around in it. Then the humans left and it started to shake. Buster and I were scared. It was noisy and shaking a lot. We couldn’t sleep and it was hard to walk around so we got under the table and waited.  After a long time, it stopped and the humans came back.  All the walls moved again and it was easier to walk around. We went outside but everything was different. There were so many smells we couldn’t figure out where we were.  The barefoot lady put something around our necks and we couldn’t walk very far.  It was horrible. We wanted to go back to the big house and the cornfield but we couldn’t find it.

The house shook a lot.  The fuzzy man and the barefoot lady were never there when it happened. We tried to tell them about it but they didn’t understand.  It stopped happening and we started having a good time again. We got to go outside without the tight things on our necks.

[caption id="attachment_222" align="alignleft" width="300"] The little house[/caption]

There were birds and mice but the cornfield was gone.  Everything was prickly and the trees smelled different. We started to like our new yard, but then yesterday the walls moved again, and the house is shaking a lot. Our humans are gone again. We’ll try to tell them when they come back, but like I said earlier, they aren’t very smart and don’t understand what we say. They just pet us on the head and give us food. They’ll want to sit in our chairs, so we’ll have to sit on top of them to rest.

When the house isn’t moving it’s a nice house. We have dark quiet places to hide in our new house. I’ll tell out about it some other time.  For now, I just hope the shaking stops soon.

Heading North

“Parting is such sweet sorrow”.  These words from William Shakespeare, immortalized in the play Romeo and Juliet, come to mind as we prepare to depart Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge leaving behind people we have met and become friends with. Sweet in the sense that we have forged new relationships with a few and already have plans to see them again down the road, some sooner than others but we will meet again for sure and possibly work together again.  Sad in that, like all other chapters in life, this one is coming to a fast end.

[caption id="attachment_228" align="alignright" width="300"] Packing up[/caption]

 

As I reflect on our 14 weeks here, my thoughts turn back to the expectations and apprehensions I felt as we embarked on our first RV Volunteer assignment. My only fear of being in this wild place was an encounter with a scorpion.  I never saw one, maybe we were here the wrong time of year.  Fortunately, unlike my husband I have no fear of snakes.  I did see several this winter and was not concerned but more curious and a little disappointed that they moved away so quickly that I didn’t get a long look at them.  The encounter with the Rattlesnake was, well, ‘rattling’. It was my first encounter with a snake that could harm me. He was quite docile, having recently emerged from hibernation but scary none the less.  Two things happened after that. I became quite vigilant when walking around knowing they were lurking about and much to my surprise don’t feel the need to rattle at humans, giving them stealth. Not the two that were encountered around the RV’s anyway. The other result was the sudden influx of field mice into the underbelly of our camper. They got inside the camper living space by way of the louvers in the stairs going to the bedroom.  The cats caught the first one. We caught 6 more, in short order, with traps and can only imagine how many ate the Decon that we provided for their dining pleasure. A few hours from departure I am happy to announce, that Champ did not succumb to sudden heart failure, when our reptile friends came out of hibernation, as he predicted he might and the mice are under control.

The work we did for Balcones was a far reach from the job descriptions we applied for but was very rewarding.  My cousin recalled an adage her grandmother used to repeat often “Bloom where you are. “ That fit so perfectly.  The cardinal rule of RV Volunteering is to be flexible to the needs of your host.  "Other duties as assigned" a phrase I uttered frequently in my professional career, was the phrase of the season.  In our case, especially mine, because of our sudden job description evolution, I was privileged to get involved in the refuge mission in ways I never imagined I would be able to. This has been such a rewarding experience for this nature loving corporate burn out. Instead of working in the Visitors Center every day, I got out, got dirty and sweaty, learned a lot and got a great tan!  I still got to do 1 day a week in the Visitors Center which I also loved.  Champ could satisfy his love of ‘piddling’ as he calls it doing various handyman type jobs for the refuge as well as mowing. Our once a week duty of cleaning the trail head public areas, a morning spent working together each Monday was something to look forward to each week.

[caption id="attachment_230" align="alignright" width="300"] Texas Bluebonnet[/caption]

It has been a treat to watch the Texas wildflowers awaken. The best part for me is that most of them are not familiar to me, so it is exciting not knowing what is going to bloom next and what it will look and smell like.  I marvel at the astonishing array of butterflies here. Being from a part of the country that is ag intensive and saturated in pesticides, butterflies and other pollinators are becoming rarer each year. I have also discovered the pleasure of birding ( something that I'm sure will make my mother smile) and plan to continue with what I have learned from our friend John, and hopefully find a new bird mentor who can continue to teach me when I return to Iowa.

In less than two weeks we will be at Saylorville Lake experiencing our favorite campground and part time summer home the past 15 years, in a very different way. There will be new volunteers to meet and become friends with. A new job to do and new rangers to work for. The web that is the Full Time Rv’ers network will grow a bit more and we’ll be at home with our family and friends.  Not in our brick and mortar home but our RV home in Volunteer Village. For the cats’ sake, I wish sometimes I could do a Samantha Stevens trick and wiggle my nose to transport us the 1200 miles home. The road trip is a pleasure for Champ and me.  The cats, well let’s just say, they will be glad when it is over.

Several family members asked me over the winter if I missed anything since selling the house. Or story as yet, reads much like the blogs I read of those who have gone before us.  The angst of selling all our possessions and foundation, morphed quickly into a feeling of liberation and we haven’t looked back.

[caption id="attachment_229" align="alignnone" width="300"] Farewell Volunteer Lunch[/caption]

We’ll pull out of the refuge and head for the Interstate in less than 24 hours and take with us some great memories, new people in our hearts, and maybe a stowaway field mouse.

Till next time…

Enjoy pictures of some of the wildlife I photographed while here. It has been a great experience.

[gallery ids="231,232,233,234,235,236,237,238,239,240,241,242,243,244,230,245,246,247,248,249,250,251,252,253,254,255"]

Wardrobe Change

I love watching spring colors transform the drab grays and browns of winter into a kaleidoscope of color.  For this northerner it was really strange to watch the refuge undergo this change beginning in late February, when my home state of Iowa is typically still buried in a foot of snow pack and the ground is till frozen several feet deep.  It occurred to me the other day, the best part of being a snow bird is going to be able to witness this remarkable transformation twice each year. When we arrive home in April the flowers and trees of Iowa will just be starting to wake up and poke their heads through the barely warm soil. What an unexpected bonus!

One of my favorite colors in the world is the fresh, light bright green of new leaves. Nowhere in nature is this color reproduced and as far as I'm concerned attempts to reproduce new leaf green by man made means fall far short of Mother Natures.  Perhaps it is knowing that the color is associated with a new birth and the promise of another growing season that holds its appeal to me.

I think I'll stop gushing and let the reader enjoy the pictures.

Until next time...

[gallery ids="212,213,214,215,218,219,220,221,224,217,223,222"]

Until We Meet Again

We are in the final countdown to the day we will depart from Balcones and head back home to Iowa. I am so excited to get back home and spoil the grandkids, get caught up with friends we haven’t seen since October and connect with our three kids again. Through the magic of social media and video chat, we have been much more connected than we could have been just 10 years ago, and for that I am thankful.

As with any adventure we are counting down the times we will do certain things before we leave.  Three more Taco Tuesday’s with our group, two more Monday’s of PUA duty, two more Tuesday’s working the Visitors Center talking to visitors about what there is to see and do here. Seven more total work days and two weekends. When we leave, we will take some time going home and visit Shreveport, Hot Springs, Mark Twain National Forest and stop for a quick overnight visit with a cousin in Kansas.

I marvel at the fast friends we have made in Hill Country.  We had the good fortune to be in the company of very dynamic people who love this lifestyle as much as we do.  John & Cathy lived in the area for 17 years before taking the plunge and selling their home last year to go full time. They introduced us to their friends from the area and we have had a wonderful 3 months here socializing with them and making new friends.  Like everything else in life, people are what make the experience heartfelt and worthwhile.

[caption id="attachment_204" align="alignnone" width="300"] The Great 8[/caption]

The refuge staff have been so generous with their knowledge and willing to let us roll up our sleeves and get involved in projects that contribute to the mission of the refuge. I have been able to experience things I never dreamed I could be a part of and will take these experiences with me along with my photographic record of this beautiful place. Being RV volunteers has given us the opportunity to experience the refuge in a way that would not have been possible any other way.  I will miss this place and the people get to call Balcones Canyonlands NWR their ‘office’.

[caption id="attachment_110" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Refuge Entrance[/caption]

There will be tears for sure.  The day we leave will be tough. It’s amazing how quickly one can grow fond of people and how hard it is to part ways.  When I imagine the perfect version of this lifestyle I see us meeting people over the years and reconnect with some of them periodically as we return to different regions of the country.  That is certainly true of our feelings for the folks we have met here this year.  We hope to return to Balcones in the future for another stint and most definitely will make it a point to come to the area on the way to or from somewhere and see our Lago Vista friends.  We are already talking about how and when we may see each other again.  Fortunately, Saylorville is centrally located and a beautiful campground.  Beth has reservations there a couple of times this summer so we know we will see her again.  John & Cathy are talking about making it a destination for a couple of days on their way to their summer gig in Northern Minnesota and a couple we met in Kerrville stay at Saylorville each year on their way to Minnesota and will let us know when they pass through so we can visit them again.   We met Central U.S. snowbirds at Kerrville earlier in the winter who plan a summer reunion in South Dakota, where one of the couples volunteers in the summer. If things work out we may have the opportunity to see them again for a long weekend.

In 30 days we will be back in Iowa nestled away at Volunteer Village. Saylorville holds a special place in our hearts.  It is the place where we met and our life began together some 16 years ago. We will be home in time for our oldest son’s birthday, Easter and the procession of summer holidays and family traditions that will take place over the next 7 months, until we head out again, in late October, to escape the winter months and return to Texas.

Next winter will bring a new opportunity working and staying at Goliad State Park south of San Antonio. I can’t wait to see how many more people we will have met by then. The end of this month will be our first of many times we will say ‘Until we meet again”

Until next time…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun Times

Of all the things we are getting to do we're having the most fun being able to create a new display for the Visitor's Center.

Most of the people who visit here are coming from out of town and aren't familiar with the native plants that they will see here.  The refuge is currently undergoing a dramatic wardrobe change as the wildflowers begin to bloom and dormant trees leaf out in the bright green only new leaves can produce.

John and Cathy showed me a picture of a thing called a blooming tree that they had displayed in a refuge where they volunteered in UP Michigan last summer and asked me to build one.

[caption id="attachment_196" align="alignnone" width="300"] Beth Lindquist- fellow Iowan[/caption]

Champ, Beth and I worked on it together. We made the tree and an accompanying pedistal style book stand to hold a binder I began assembling with pictures and descriptions of native flowers, trees  and grasses that can be found along the refuge trails and public areas. Our primary goal was to create the display out of existing resources here at the refuge.

We selected a small Cedar growing behind my camper.  A member of the firecrew agreed it would be ecologically good for the tree stand to cut it down and create light and space for the other trees.  So with chainsaw in hand, ( you have to have a very official US Fish and Wildlife Certificate to operate one) Kathleen cut it down. No easy task since the top was intertwined to the canopy with grapevine the size of my forearm!

[caption id="attachment_115" align="alignnone" width="300"] Getting ready to transform our Cedar Trunk[/caption]

After that adventure Champ and I set to work mounting it to a base and drilling holes that will hold small viles of water to display cuttings of what is currently flourishing on the refuge.

[caption id="attachment_201" align="alignright" width="200"] Blooming Tree[/caption]

The base was the bottom of an old wrought iron hall tree that was no longer being used.  I chose a dead branch from a tree we trimmed along a roadway and made a sign hanger. We got it moved to the Visitors Center but something was still missing. The top looked quite bare.  John looked around and spied a Kestral mount above the water fountain that went largly unnoticed. We attached it on top and everything  came together.

Beth and John harvested a decades old cedar fence post and used it as the support pedistal for the book stand. Some more lumber from the scrap pile, sanding and stain and a beautiful podium was born. A product of Beth's woodworking skills.

[caption id="attachment_202" align="alignright" width="200"] Bookstand[/caption]

The Blooming Tree is a nice center piece in the Visitors Center now and we're all having fun as something  new blooms nearly everyday at Balcones NWR adding things to the display.
The visitors are enjoying it and best of all we got to do something fun, creative, collaberative and satisfy my love of up-cycling in the process.  Just another reason to love this group of people I am with this winter and this little slice of heaven called Texas Hill Country.

Until Next Time...