Bad Bad Me

I have to apologize for being so bad at keep up with my blogs. You would think that I have all the time in the world now to do this, but I always seem to find something else to keep me busy.  I have been reading an average of a book every three days....so you can see how I've been spending my time.  But I am going to try and spend the next few weeks getting caught up. Thanks for your patience.

Next Stop Branson Missouri

We were contacted by the managers of Branson Lakeside RV Park in Branson Missori to "work" for them for the summer. After working (really working) in the Everglades, this sounded like a nice easy gig.  Kathleen works two eight hour days in the office, answering phones, taking reservations, and checking in campers.  Fred works two four hour days escorting the campers to their site while driving a golf cart!!! In addition, we get a discount (mostly free) into most of the shows in town.

When people would ask me what was in Branson, I would say that it is the redneck's version of Las Vegas!!!  And it is, but in a nice way...  The town is very proud of it's heritage and it promotes, God, Country and Family.

On February 29th this year a tornado did go through one part of the major entertainment section of town.

While there was some serious damage, no one was injured.  Driving through town, you can see the path that the tornado took and it came within a quarter mile of the campground.  However, the show must go on and you can see the progress that has been made in cleaning up and repairing the damages.

The campground has 170 RV spots and no tents allowed.  There is a manager couple, 2 assistant manager couples and 11 worker camper couples here now. We've already seen at least three couples leave for other opportunities.  The campground is situated on Lake Taneycomo (which is actually the White River that has been damed at both ends), it still looks like a river to me. There's great trout fishing in the lake as it is feed from the bottom of Table Rock Dam to the west of here. (hint, hint Doug and Cyndy...).  It's a fairly busy campground, but from what we've heard, not as busy as it has been in years past.  It's definately not as pretty as the campground we were at last year, but all of the work campers are extremely nice. We are within walking distance of Branson Landing which is a big outside mall with lots of shops and restaurants.  We've learned that happy hour on Thursday's is at Texas Land and Cattle!! $2 beer and margarita's and 1/2 price appetizers.

Our campsite unfortunatley does not have any shade, so with this horribly hot weather, we are in the process of getting a second air conditioning unit installed (hopefully today or tommorrow)!!

So far we have been enjoying our stay here.  We've seen some fantastic shows and some that we were glad that we didn't pay for...  It's a totally different experience from last some and this past winter, but that's the whole idea with our lifestyle.

If anyone wants to come and visit, it is a fun place, so give us a call.

Leaving Florida

We left Florida on April 15th, but I have to include a picture of Fred giving his last Nike Missile Base tour at Everglades National Park.

This was a great experience for us, alot of work, but we really enjoyed learning about the area and working with such a wonderful group of people.  Thanks to the National Park Rangers that we meet and worked with Ryan, Julie, Larry, Glauco, Leon, Leslie and Kirk (and Dale), and Bob (and Debbie) and to the other volunteers, Jan, Barb, Tom, Laura, Hayley and Linda. We hope to see you all again real soon.

We had a nice trip up north, however,  the only place of interest that we stopped at on the way was in Huntsville Alabama at the Space Camp and museum at the Red Stone Arsenal.  This is where NASA did a lot of the research and development into the space program.  We also got to see some kids who were there for space camp launch some rockets that they had made.  We even got to keep a few that landed in the bed of the truck or on top of the RV!!.

It was great to see the family and to celebrate Fred's dad's 93rd birthday!!

Dry Tortugas National Park

We took a few days away from our work at Everglades National Park and visited Dry Tortugas National Park.  It is an island about 70 miles west of Key West Florida.  It was founded by the Spanish explorer Ponce DeLeon in 1513 . It was called Tortugas which is the spanish word for turtles, because of all the turtles that were found on the island.  The name was later changed to Dry Tortugas so that mariners would know that there is no fresh water on the island.

The national park is actually composed of seven small islands.

The largest is Garden Island where in the 1800's the US government built Fort Jefferson. It is the largest all masonary fort in the United States.

The fort was originally built to protect the United State's gateway into the Gulf of Mexico.
It has a wonderful history to it.  During the Civil War it remained a Union Fort and was used as a prison for Union soldiers.  It's most famous prisoner was Dr. Mudd the physician who set John Wilkes Booth's leg after he assassinated President Lincoln.

The fort was never completed due to the fact that it was so heavy, that it immediately began to sink into the soft sand.  In addition, the weather has also contributed to it's decline.  However, considering the hurricanes that must have engulfed it throughout the past 175+ years, it's remarkable how well it does look.

We did enjoy a wonderful tour through the grounds.  We saw some beautiful birds (Magnificant Frigate Bird) and tried our luck at snorkeling in the crystal blue warm waters.

A picnic lunch and a walk around the fort was a perfect way to end the day!!

Vintage Everglades 2012

Welcome to the Second Annual Vintage Everglades at Everglades National Park.  We had a great time at this event, but it did take a lot of work and planning.  The premise to this event is to educate, inform and entertain the public through re-enactment of people and events that had an impact on the Everglades. 

The original idea of this was the brainchild of one of the volunteers that we worked with this year Laura Marquardt from northern Wisconsin.  We were able to pick the era and character that we wanted to portray.  Fred had an obvious choice...a Nike missile soldier from the 1960's

It doesn't seem like a hard choice, but we had to find a uniform from that era.  On one of our days off, we searched most of the Army Surplus stores in the Miami-Dade area.  There were a few places I wasn't sure if I would be safer in the store or in the truck to make sure it didn't get stolen.  Fred always had me stay in the truck!!!  We did find a uniform that fit the era, but did not quite fit Fred (maybe next year...).  Then came the  next step, finding the patches that were appropriate.  We were lucky to find the rank patches at the dry cleaners at Homestead Air Force Base.  The seamstress had a bag of old patches that she had removed from uniforms when a soldier got promoted. We found 2 Spec 4 patches there.  The other patches, Fred found by calling other bases.  So his uniform was complete. 

During Vintage Day Fred 'hung out' on the trail with another soldier, Bob Layman who actually did work at the Nike site in Key Largo.  Bob still had his original uniform and it fit!                                          They portrayed two soldiers who were off duty and having some fun on the trail watching the wildlife.

The idea for my character took alittle more thought and planning. After much discussion, it was decided that I would be a 'Hat Shoppe Owner' in order to show how plumes from the Everglades birds were used as a fashion statement.





One evening the women got together at the chickee (screened enclosed pavilion) and made miniature hats that I could "sell" in my shop.  The hats actually looked very good!!

I then had to figure out how to make the shelter on the trail look like a hat shop.

I must say, given the fact that I have no artistic ability I think it turned out quite well!!

There were all aspects of the Everglades represented here from the sleazy land developer.

Reenacted by Everglades National Park's Superintendent Dan Kimball (dig the boots!!).

To Marjory Stoneman Douglas the author of "The River of Grass" and the mother of the Everglades

and Ernest Coe the father of the Everglades.

We also had the more colorful characters like Hayley (aka the Nike Intern who we worked with) who was a plume hunter.

Linda who portrayed John James Audubon

Tom Marquart who not only made the glades boat, but was the gladesman with the alligator skins.  And yes the boat did float.

To Eric, our very scary Warden.

One added touch this year was representatives from the Native American community

This was the Turtle Women.  She is a descendant of the Calusa Indians the first native Indian's of Florida.

This was Jumper Osceola who is a Seminole Indian.

It was a lot of work, but we did enjoy ourselves and everyone who came and saw the event seemed pleased with it. 

Volunteering at Everglades National Park

Who ever thought that retirement meant sitting around watching tv, reading books and taking long naps never volunteered at Everglades National Park. 

We realized that there would be a learning curve, just never realized how steep it was!!

Our position here requires that both Fred and I 'work' 32 hours a week.  For this 64 hours, we get a full hook up site, free laundry facilities and are able to take the boat tours in the park for $5 a person instead of $26.50 (that's a good deal).  However, we didn't realize that we would spend so much of our off time reading and preparing for our tours.

On our day off last week, we took advantage of the sunset boat ride on Florida Bay.  It was a windy day, but we enjoyed it...

and the sunset.  What could be better than this??

We are both enjoying ourselves and our glad of this opportunity to give back to the National Park Service.

Fred has been doing the Nike Missile tours, including a night tour on Mondays.  He has also been getting his exercise while leading a 5 mile Bike Hike through the Pinelands. In addition, he has done a 30 minute talk (Glades Glimpse) on alligators.  Starting next week he will add 'Coffee with a Ranger' and a 30 minute 'Gator Spy'. Taking his Glades Glimpse out onto the trail.

I have been doing the 'Coffee with a Ranger', a 50 minute nature hike along the Anhinga Trail and a 30 minute Gator Spy.  Starting on Friday I will also be giving the 90 minute Nike Missile Tour.  Oh how I wish that I had paid attention to Fred when he talked about life at the Nike site!!!

We have told them that neither one of us wants to do a Slough Slog...2 hour hike into the swamp, guaranteed to get wet up to your knees...

The people that we work with are absolutely wonderful.  Every Friday night is TGIF.  You bring something, be it a fancy hors d'oeuvre or a bag of chips to share and your own drinks.  It's been alot of fun and such a varied group of people.

For my birthday, my coworkers surprised me with a cake and since we try to space out our 'parties' they had a pot luck dinner in my honor on Jan. 16th.  They even presented me with my very own offical junior ranger pin!!!

Despite the number of hours that we work, it is truely a wonderful experience.

And who wouldn't want to spend the winter here, where most days its between 72 and 80 degrees and very little rain.

People have been asking us for a picture of our campsite.  We are in the employee housing area within the park.  There are over two dozen housing units within the compound and eleven RV sites.

This is the view from our front yard.  The little building is a bath/shower room and the laundry facilities.  Two nice, new washers and dryers that are free!!