CuRVWander

Our days have been routine since returning to our volunteer assignment after the mini “vacation” to Zion.   Just running the traps, scooping fire pits in the morning, checking in campers in the afternoon, generator checks in the evening and quiet hours checks after 10:00pm.   It was on one of the evening generator checks that something not so routine, shall we say, presented itself. With Arizona not participating in daylight savings time the sun sets just a few minutes after 7:30 and with our heavily wooded campground, it gets dark quick.   At 8:00pm we walk the campground to do the generator check because the vehicles currently at our disposal are louder than any generator (except those el-cheepos from Harbor Freight & Northern Tool.   You can hear those things over a jet engine.)   We have to carry flashlights lest we step in a hole or run into a tree.   But in the first few minutes of our rounds we can manage on the twilight, and that is just ...

You would think that as retirees and full time RVers the idea of taking a vacation would be a bit odd.  After all, are we not on vacation all the time?  Well, not exactly, but still, the idea of taking a vacation feels odd to us.  But we did think about it and Cyndee has found us a motel room for two nights a little ways outside the east entrance to Zion National Park . From our location on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon we are about a three hours drive to Zion.  We are still scratching our heads as to why we never made it Zion last year when we were camp hosting at the North Rim.  We did one little overnight trip to Bryce Canyon and that was it.  This year we are making a more concerted effort to get out and about on our days off and see the sights.  This set of four days off we'll be in a motel for two nights and eating in restaurants for three days, just like real tourists! So we packed our bags (yep, we kept a couple of duffle ba...

We recently had cycled into one of our three day weekends, which for us is a Mon, Tues, Wed.  Having not made any plans to do anything definite we had only made a brief trip up to one of the big overlooks one afternoon.  More time was spent doing housekeeping and laundry as well as some time writing on this blog. But we also do not miss the opportunity to enjoy the moments of absolutely gorgeous weather regularly bestowed upon us.  It is quite enjoyable to sit in our camp chairs and watch the light as the sun finds ever changing paths through the ponderosa pines. On one of these mornings we had been sitting quietly for some time, the campground was unusually empty and the people that were here were making themselves scarce.  The silence was noticeable and we were drinking it in.  Just about then movement caught our eye.  A golden mantle squirrel (somewhat rare and found only in places with habitat similar to the North Rim) and a chipmunk started fo...

As full time RV'ers, retired and doing volunteer work year 'round we have found that the coming and going of weekends and holidays don't feel the same as they used to.  Since starting our adventures in volunteering the middle of last year we have been on duty every single holiday.  And given that we are living in the places that you would go to on vacation, the "rhythm" of anticipating paid days off, the long weekend road trip and the dragging yourself back to work after the holiday, are gone.  I'm not complaining, it is just an observation we have made as we adjust to retirement.  I suspect we are no different than anyone else in this regard that has retired, regardless of whether they are fulltimers or volunteers.  Except maybe the part about living in all the vacation destinations. So, with our new rhythm not fully developed we woke up one day with talk of a parade, decorating the Polaris and a bar-b-q lunch provided by the concessionaire for park employe...