Settling Down

After driving from Arizona to the East Coast and then back west to Colorado in a little over 2 months, then getting caught up in a wedding and several family health issues, we were ready to relax and do as little as possible. In January I made reservations for 8 weeks in 4 different Colorado State Parks. The rules allow only 14 days in a single park within 45 days. That's fine. The state has lots of parks we love.

Our first stop is St. Vrain State Park north of Denver along I-25. We stayed here last summer, as well, and we knew we love it. There are 4 ponds, possibly once gravel pits, that became a state park. The ponds house a blue heron rookery and good birding opportunities, as well as fishing for trout and bass. What I like most are the multiple opportunities to photograph reflections--my favorite camera opportunity. Here are a few I have taken this year.

Canada geese are very prevalent. We see them everywhere--and have to watch where we walk because of their poop.

These little birds were lined up on a branch. They sort of look like some kind of swallow.

Saturday while we were out for our walk, we came on a raptor presentation. Very interesting. We saw a Swainson's hawk, a kestrel and a great horned owl. They are all magnificent birds.

The park is located in a relatively rural area. This old house is still standing just outside the park boundary.

We are really enjoying our time to relax and refresh in this beautiful, peaceful place.

Change and Being Busy

We bought a new trailer and a new truck to pull it. Doing all of than in just over a week is somewhat overwhelming and very, very busy. Here is a photo of our new Airstream Flying Cloud 28 and new Chevrolet 2500HD crew cab truck.

I will be posting a reflection on the experience in a few days, but right now all I have the energy, focus and time to do is figure out what we need to do tomorrow.

Busy as a clean bee

It's been quite a while since we spent much time in a place where we knew everyone around us. We have been on the road full time for almost four years and before that we didn't see our home in the Denver area except during the winter months--when it is cold and snows. So we didn't see our neighbors much then.

On the street behind where we are parked in Mesa, the folks have all been coming there for years and they have nightly happy hours together. Every neighborhood like that seems to have someone who helps everyone out. This street is no exception.

"Mr. Clean" owns a power washer and he knows his neighbors well enough, he washes their homes before they get back for the winter. When washing park model homes isn't enough, he works, non-stop it seems, refurbishing his own park model--new carpets, flooring, etc. He seems to be working 10 to 12 hours a day, then he joins the afternoon happy hour.

It makes us tired, just watching him.

The New Normal

Today is our second of four days off--finally. We arrived in the Lower Rio Grande Valley on January 13 and spent 16 of the last 18 days of January in training or practicing for the work we began February 1. We attended classes, went on tram tours at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge, worked on our tram talks, and spent three days driving the tram route, practicing. Then, last Tuesday, we gave our talks to our trainers and the other volunteers.

Pointing out a guayacan tree.



Talking about mistletoe before going down the Jaguarundi Trail.



Talking about the Rio Grande.



A horse across the river in Mexico.



Driving the old tram.



Practicing my tour in the front seat of an SUV.



This is the old tram. We will only use this if the new tram breaks down again or if we need to add extra tram tours.



We haven't had much time for our regular exercise, but one day last weekend we did get to run along the irrigation ditch near where we are parked. The sun really comes up late here.



Through the end of April, we will be working three days each week. We will be off the other four. This month we will be giving tram tours Tuesday and Wednesday and working in the Visitor Center on Thursday. Next month, we will change to another three-day shift.

Since we have been so busy, our time off this week is being spent just getting life back in order: cleaning, paying bills, exercising, resting, putting stuff away. It feels so good.

We have been parked in this spot for 12 days and we didn't get our sign up until today. Did I mention, we have been busy?



This mockingbird was sitting in a tree outside our RV today. The mockingbird is the Texas state bird.