Jan--Feb'04
On
tues, John & Libby Veach (therollinghome.com) stopped by to On tues, John & Libby Veach (therollinghome.com)
stopped by to visit the 4 of
us and double check my internet sat to see if I had set it up right. I couldn't
get a signal at all and John said I was in a "dead" area. From about
10 miles north to 15 miles south was dead on my assigned satellite. Maybe some
space debris hit the transponder. We ended up having a phone installed so I
could keep up with the internet. Sloooow, but at least I had internet.
Thur
we finally started work. Kay helped out at the ranger station and I teamed up
with Bob Tydd, another volunteer, and we put in a
lift station for his site. Didn't mind the digging cause it was soft sand. We
don't work a lot of hours a day so this project took a few days. Also changed 2
of the sites from 30AMP to 50AMP. And on another fixed the 50AMP. Someone had
run only 3 wires and put a jumper from neutral to ground. Not good. It would
work, until you had a problem and needed the 4th wire. If it wasn’t
there---worst case scenario---burn your RV down.
The
park is on a tight budget so we ended up digging up some old PVC pipe from a
former weather station to get the PVC for the work we did. But as I said---easy
digging.
On
fri we went to eat at a place where the volunteer coordinator, Renee
Riddle, played in a band. She played fiddle and is very good. Her mom was
there on guitar and she could rock!
The
next wed, Rich & Diane Emond stopped by for a
visit. Had a nice afternoon with them. We really enjoy it when we run into them.
It is amazing how small the world is when you can run into friends while
traveling. Of course the internet
& email helps. We pretty much know where our Rving friends are most of the
time.
Our
next project was fixing the door to the Ranger station.
Termites had done a heck of a job on it. The termites were long gone but the
damage had never been fixed. They just used the other door. We had to tear the
door and part of the wall out. When we did, I could crush the 2x4 along side the
door with my hands. One day as we were taking out the door jamb, Bob headed up
to the shop for some more tools, so I proceeded to finish taking out the jamb. I
knocked out the floor plate, picked it up and set it aside. When I looked back
there was 2 snakes on the concrete below where the sill was. Evidently they had
crawled under the aluminum plate for warmth and when I knocked the plate out it
knocked them onto the concrete. The coloration was beautiful! And I didn’t
have my camera. I think one was a
Coral Snake & the other was a Scarlet Kingsnake. We had been seeing posters
that showed the difference and although they looked alike the color bands were
different. I watched them for awhile but had to move (gently, with a broom) them
away as they were trying to crawl inside the building. I started carrying my
camera to work but never got any more photo opps.
After
we finished the door & wall we painted the station, all of it. It sure looks
good. I think that is important as it is the first thing visitors see when they
enter the park. And first impressions count.
On
one Sunday we (Bob, Donna, Kay & I) went to Ft Myers, Fl to visit Jared
& Julia, Mike & Clara’s son & daughter-in-law. Kay’s dad and his
sister, Winona, were there also. We all loaded up and went a few miles north to
“The Shell Factory”. This is quite the place and I’m not sure I can
describe it. The reason we went was Renee was playing
with the “Porch Dogs”, a Zydeco band. They were
good! Afterwards Renee came down
and met Kay’s family. I’m sure she was impressed! From there we headed back
to the park as it was a 2 hour drive.
We
found an Elks Lodge in Wauchula, Fl about 8 miles from where we were staying.
They served food on wed & fri. We ate there quite a few times. Wed also was
karaoke night. It was a lot of fun and we made some new friends. Kay, Donna and
bartender, Donna, got up a couple of times and did their thing. Good for a
laugh.
:>) They had a Super Bowl Party so that’s where we
went for the game.
had a Super Bowl Party
TheTheyThey We
also visited an AMVETS Post in Arcadia, Fl. It was an old house that had been
converted. The food was excellent and when we finished we went to the lounge in
back and they were having karaoke also. That sure is an ice breaker. Met some
more new friends. We would have gone back except it was 40 miles away. AMVETS
are pretty active in FL. Couldn’t find any Legions or VFW’s close by that
had anything going on.
One
day we all went to Plant City, Fl for strawberry shortcake. Last year when we
visited Chuck Hunt he took us to Parkesdale Farms for
shortcake. It was worth the drive. Check the pics.
Tried to call Chuck but no answer. Kay & I went up another day to visit him
and his daughter, Crystal. Found out that the race track he is building is about
10 miles from where we are staying. Stopped by on the way home to see it. We
didn’t get out of the truck as it had been raining and it was messy. They are
still working on the area around the track but the track is done and looks good.
Probably be there a few times next winter.
Our
next project was replacing the siding on the rear of the park managers house and
paint the new siding. The house is part of the park. We were going to replace
the windows also but they couldn’t get them in time.
I
feel we did a good job on the Ranger Station & house. They look good.
Kay
and Donna did most of their volunteering on trail maintenance and manning the
ranger station & visitors center on weekends.
Bob
cut a new trail and made new signs for the trails.
There
were 2 ATV’s that we could use to travel the trails as long as no volunteers
needed them for a project. Easier than walking.
All
the volunteers got together for a potluck before we left at the end of feb. And
the rangers had a volunteer appreciation lunch on the
Saturday before we left.
Overall we enjoyed our stay at Paynes Creek and signed up for next year (dec., jan., feb.). With the understanding that we would have the week off around Christmas to head to Ft. Myers for the holidays.
During
our time there I installed a gutter across the front of the MH. Sure helps keep
the windshield clean.
On
March 2 we headed out for Okeechobee.
Later
Pictures