I thought keeping with the theme of today, I’d post another blog entry. What’s more scary than reading a rare blog entry from me? Right?

Not much to report from Waccamaw NWR. We have settled into a routine of sorts. We work at the VC Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. During October, there were no other volunteers to work the other days the VC was open. There were other volunteers, but they were all engaged in odd jobs around the refuge. Starting in November, Bobbi and Ken from ME will be here, and I can only assume they will work at the VC Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

The days get long. Our job is to greet and be helpful to any visitors that may accidentally find their way to the VC. Literally, accidentally. This place is not on any maps, and is not located on a main traveled road although it is located on a federal highway that carries lots of local and commercial traffic. So, people who come here have somehow found out about it, and a common comment we hear is that they have driven by the place a number of times and are curious to come in and check it out. Because people come here because they want to come here, not come here to use the restrooms, etc., our boss thinks it is important to have someone here to greet them and be available to talk and answer questions. And that is what we do. We average 6 or 7 on Thursdays and Fridays, and the average goes up to about 15 on Saturdays.

We do get out on our days off and see the local sites and, more importantly for me, eat wonderful local fare. The photos of live oaks and an alligator are from a day spent at Brookgreen Gardens between Myrtle Beach and Georgetown. It’s a large expanse encompassing several former plantations, and the grounds have been turned into a sculpture garden. It’s a place where we would return again at different times of the year to see the changes. It’s lovely.

Back to our volunteer gig… Shannon’s approach and my approach are much different. My approach is that I’m a volunteer and do what is asked of me, but I’m not going to go looking for what is wrong with the place and try to fix the things I observe, and I’m certainly not going to go searching for other things to do. I learned my lesson from Sherry, a volunteer-veteran we met in TX, who told us the volunteer mantra is “not-my-problem.” I have tried to straighten out the MN DNR for 30-plus years and failed. I’m not gonna start again with federal agencies in places where I will be out-of-there in 3 months.

Shannon, on the other hand…  She is a fixer and problem-solver, and always thinks she can turn the federal ship around and make things “better.” She has a critical eye and a strong work ethic that tells her she has to be busy doing something productive or she is not doing her job. We, yes I am then pressed into service, have cleaned places at the VC where the sun doesn’t shine and no human eye will ever behold. But darn it they were dirty and neglected and only 6 visitors a day and the days are long and we have to be productive…You can follow the train of thought and can easily guess where it goes. Me? I just do what is expected of me and try to remind Shannon that by doing what we are asked to do we are freeing up staff and helping them out even though it seems that all we do is sit on our…okay, okay, you get the picture again.

News this week said it was two years since Super Storm Sandy hit the East Coast. I was reminded that event kind of marks the start of our full time RVing life. We sold out house in MN the fall of 2012, and we were headed to Santee NWR in SC when we altered our route because the storm was bringing snow to the mountains of NC as it churned northward. It’s hard to believe it has only been two years since the start of this life. In that time we volunteered in SC, MN, NM and AZ; toured FL and the Canadian Atlantic Maritime Provinces; crossed the Great Plains twice; visited family twice in CO (where Shannon is right now); made 2 flights to PA for a funeral and a 50^th high school class reunion; visited a cousin for the very first (and sadly last) time and cousins that I should have been visiting more often; witnessed our youngest son’s wedding; and exchanged a fifth-wheel RV for a motor home.. In 2 years we have traveled a lot, saw some great sites, had some wonderful food (and once in awhile not so wonderful food…cod tongues did not make the most-favored-food list), became immersed in very diverse cultures, have had our lives enriched by other volunteers we have met and continue to keep connected with, had lots of fun, experienced stress and disagreements along the way, loss some pets and gained a new one, and throughout it all are thankful we could do what we are doing and have rarely wistfully looked back (until grandkids come into focus). This is two years into our 5-year plan; so, in three more years we will evaluate where we are and maybe slow down. And then again maybe not.