The Beginning

When Bob decided to retire in June, 2006, we knew we wanted to travel in our newly acquired motorhome. Travel is a lot of fun, but it can get boring after a while if you don't have some activities planned. Hence, we investigated volunteering.

We were offered positions with the Yellowstone Heritage Center in Gardiner, Montana, which is just outside the Roosevelt Arch to Yellowstone National Park. It was a wonderful experience. After our sojourn there, we traveled to Glacier NP and enjoyed hiking and sightseeing until the end of the summer, when we returned to Yellowstone for the elk rut.

The bull elk gathers his harem, and there is a definite seniority among the bulls. The rangers and others employed by the park have quite a challenge coming and going from their housing to their work.

As we began our return to Florida right after Labor Day, the wildfires were all around us, and there was ice and snow on the Big Horn Mountains.

This positive experience led us to try "work camping" in 2007. We worked for private campground owners for 24 - 30 hours per week in exchange for free camping with a few other perks. Our first assignment was in Jacksonville, NC, near Camp LeJeune. There were many reasons not to stay beyond July 4th. The owners were wonderful to us, and Bob enjoyed the driving range as well as a weekly golf game with the other men at the campground. However, the real pluses were that we were close to Wilmington and got to see two of my favorite cousins, near in age and with shared interests and memories of our childhood. The second plus was we fished on the shore of North Topsail Beach; one of the most beautiful beaches in the East. AND, while we were fishing, Richard Gere was making a movie of Nicholas Sparks' book NIGHTS IN RODANTHE!