Enchantment Times Two

As colder temperatures descended upon Colorado in November, I began to get restless.  It felt unnatural to stay in one place as the season changed after years of full-time RVing had taught me to migrate to warmer weather like the birds.

My mind drifted back to my happy place-- Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico, the Land of Enchantment.  I missed the sights and sounds of those magnificent sandhill cranes, and missed my volunteer and staff friends there.

Final Month at Bryce

My final month at Bryce Canyon National Park (September) was a flurry of new job experiences and a wild ride of unpredictable weather as well.

It had been a lifelong dream of mine to work at a National Park, and my job as a Volunteer Interpretive Ranger fulfilled that dream to its fullest.  My daily duties included working a few hours at the Visitor Center Information Desk, a few hours of project/program time (researching and/or presenting ranger programs), and "roving" out in the park (walking trails like these and assisting visitors).

Getting Familiar with Bryce

My first two weeks at Bryce Canyon National Park in late July were filled with activity.  From learning my new job (as a volunteer interpretive ranger), to learning my way around my new 35-mile radius "neighborhood."

The first day on the job consisted of orientation, an easy day of being a tourist and exploring the same sights that they do.  I hopped on the free shuttle bus and took a hike along the rim to refamiliarize myself with the most popular lookouts-- Inspiration Point, Sunset Point, and Sunrise Point.

The midday sun was not ideal for photography, but Bryce still manages to look amazing at just about any time of day (or night!).  Here's the view looking down into Queen's Garden:

Bidding Farewell to Bosque

Fellow volunteer friends reported last week that the cranes have now left Bosque del Apache for the season to head north.  What a great winter we had together!

Bosque's Winter Birds

One of my major duties at Bosque del Apache NWR this winter season was to drive a tour van for the 4 free Refuge tours each weekend.  Surprisingly, not a single one of them was dedicated to the Sandhill Cranes that most visitors come wanting to see.

As magnificent and thrilling as the cranes are, let’s face it, they’re big and rather slow-moving, predictable birds.  Pretty easy to spot, sit and watch for hours at a time—no binoculars or bird guide books required!  So, the tours aimed to focus on all the other birds of the Refuge.  The ones that might take a bit more help to spot and identify.

White Christmases

After returning from my quick trip to Florida in mid-December to become a Floridian, I headed up to Colorado for an early Christmas with my brother and his family in the Vail valley.  As I approached the New Mexico/Colorado border, I caught a glimpse of my first snowy peak:

Festival of the Cranes

Whew!  What a week it’s been!  Over 6,000 visitors, 15,000 birds, and dozens of tired staff members and volunteers who are now thankful for a mini-Thanksgiving break.  But, oh what a fun time we all had at the 28th Annual Festival of the Cranes!

Busy Days on the Refuge & a New Job

Since the 18 new volunteers arrived 2 weeks ago, it’s been a flurry of activity here at Bosque del Apache NWR.  Between training sessions, pot lucks, and preparing for the big Festival of the Cranes (that starts this Tuesday), it’s been an exceptionally busy time.  Add to that, a new job for me here on the Refuge, lots of new major personal legal/financial changes to plan (as a result of the new 2016 ACA Healthcare plans), and a little episode of nearly burning down my RV last week….and I’ve felt rather scattered in 101 directions this month!

Sorta like these snow geese.  One day they’re enjoying a nice relaxing sunny afternoon resting in one of the ponds…

and the next day they’re buzzing over the tourists’ cars fleeing for their lives!

Back to Bosque via Great Sand Dunes

I decided to spend my last night and morning in Colorado at a place I’ve wanted to see for a long time but had never managed to get to—Great Sand Dunes National Park near Alamosa.  As I descended down from Poncha Springs into the vast San Luis Valley, the storm clouds started building.

What a Year in the Rear-View Mirror!

This week I celebrated one year as a full-time RVer—my 1st Full-TimeRVersary!   It seems like a lifetime ago that Millie and I were pulling the Winnie out of my empty house’s driveway for the very last time. Has it really just been one single year?

It’s no exaggeration to say that this has been the most monumental year of my life.  The steady, predictably flat road my life had been following for the past few decades decidedly met some big curves, peaks, and valleys this year.  Life (both the good and the bad) got amplified….loudly. 

I set off from Chicago last August with a loose plan to spend the year out West leisurely touring from Baja to the Canadian Rockies.   I would never have predicted spending almost half of the year right back here in Chicago where I began. 

But still, my first year racked up a respectable 7,000 miles to the bottom of Baja and back—not too shabby! 

So what things have I learned from this 1-year roller coaster ride?  What 5 pearls of wisdom can I pass on to next year’s crop of full-timers?

Bosque in April

With medical issues now settling into boring old recovery mode (yeah!), it’s now time to catch the blog up on my final month at Bosque del Apache NWR this past April.

As I looked out my RV window one evening at the beginning of April, a brilliant rainbow filled the big New Mexico sky.

The month was off to a great start!

Bosque Wildlife – early Spring

Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge is well-known for its large migratory flocks of Sandhill Cranes, Snow Geese, and ducks that call Bosque “home” from mid October to mid February.  At peak, there can be over 50,000 of these birds snuggled together on the Refuge, and it is a top destination for photographers, birders, and crane-lovers.

I originally visited Bosque twice during those winter months (take a look here and here) and came away with some nice photos of the signature flocks.  But what would there be to see and photograph during a non-prime season at Bosque, specifically in March?

I would soon find out!

The Life of a Bosque Volunteer

While I wait here in Chicago for my medical fun to begin (June 1st is my new surgery date), I thought I’d start catching the blog up on my time spent in New Mexico volunteering earlier this Spring.

When I arrived to Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in mid-March, Spring had yet to arrive to central New Mexico’s elevation of 4,500 feet…and I had yet to learn whether this volunteer RVing lifestyle would be all I had hoped it would be.   Would it feel like a J-O-B?  Would I get bored?  Would I fit in with others working the Refuge? Would I learn the vast amount of necessary information quickly enough to become an effective resource to visitors?  Would I want to continue doing volunteer gigs like this in the future?

It didn’t take long for Spring to “spring” or for me to get the answers to all of these burning questions!

Paradise Interrupted

I had intended to now start posting about my wonderful time volunteering at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge in New Mexico.  To share all the amazing wildlife I’ve been seeing and learning about, and share stories about all the wonderful people I’ve met here in New Mexico’s Land of Enchantment (from Refuge staff and volunteers, to visitors and local townspeople). 

Most importantly, to share how fulfilled and profoundly “balanced” the call to nature and wildlife volunteer service has made me feel.  Infinitely better than the increasing guilt and emptiness I’d been feeling of trying to fit into the rather self-indulgent, self-absorbed “bucket-list tourist” mold of some other retired full-time RVers-- all candy!  all the time!

But the road beyond Candyland, it appears, is not always smooth and effortless—it can sometimes be one heck of an off-road, rock-crawling adventure.  Last week, my life veered off into one of these new and very unexpected detours.  Time to hold on to the handle bars for quite a ride!