How We Keep Our Sanity. ???

Rich and Cheryl's News
December 27, 2016

We love to have visitors while we are hosting. Actually, we are somewhat dependent on them for community and our sanity. So many thanks and kudos to all of you who visited.

Bob and Lois visited. He is a professional photographer so I was way too shy to take their photo.

Nancy B visited while I was away recovering from spider bites so I don't have a photo of her. Dang!

Lisa and Eva

Jim and SueEllen

Cathy and Howard

It Has Been A Bit Wet

Cheryl's News From The Oregon Coast
Tuesday, December 20, 2016


It rained so hard last night I wondered if our rig would float away. 2 3/4 inches fell. Not even a record breaker.
This morning we woke to sunshine. Our one day this week with no rain predicted.

December Odds and Ends

Cheryl's News from the Oregon Coast
December 12, 2016

Okay, Mimi managed to pick up at tick while in the campground. Over the years I've tried several methods of encouraging a tick to back out. None of them worked. So here are Rich and I with no cellphone service and no access to google search for assistance. Neither of us

Mimi in the great outdoors.

could remember the info from a previous search. I thought, well, we'll try tea tree oil first. I placed a drop on the tick, turned around to cap the bottle of oil and Rich says, it backed out so fast you would not believe it! Success on many levels though Mimi was pretty upset over the tea tree oil smell and avoided us the rest of day.

Memories of Memories

Rich's News From Camp Oregon
Monday, October 24, 2016

Memories of memories

Rich at Bullards Beach

 During my first year at Natural Bridge Campground in southern Oregon Cheryl took a picture of me while I was contemplating journeys made in my youth with my family. We would stop near Union Creek and have a picnic by the Rogue River. Sitting beside the Rogue River near the area where we would picnic vague memories surface and a nostalgia for my family arises. All who experienced these childhood events are gone except my brother. Between the two of us we have vague memories.

The past week as we have been traveling up the Oregon coast. I again have vague memories of family. Passing by my old grade school in Jerome Prairie. Passing by Wilderville where I performed a trumpet duet with Jerry whose last name I don't recall. I remember us going up the hill in back of his house to watch crows come to a tree. There were 100s of them. We passed the turn off to Lake Selmac where I remember riding with my dad in a home made sail boat. Something broke and we were blown across the lake and had to walk back. Passing by Kerby where I remember missing 10 foul shots in a basketball game. Passing the turn off to Greyback where we would camp every year and somewhere near Cave Junction a turn off to go down the Illinois River to swim.

When we passed Jedediah State Park I remember camping there and playing in a pick up softball game. Then on through to Crescent City looking for the camp ground we used to use that was right on the beach. But I could not find it. One of my memories there of being 15 and wanting to strike up a conversation with a couple of girls my age but was too shy. Passing by Azalea Park in Brookings and visiting Harris Beach where we saw a dead whale.

Then on to Humbug Mountain Campground where I got the worst sunburn in my life as we camped on the beach with a shallow place to swim. Calling my brother I wanted to verify that was the place and we again both have vague memories.

Bandon, Oregon beach

Then on to Bandon where my father lived but as I searched my memory I cannot ever remember going there. We went to Sunset Bay a lot. I have a sadness that I do not know more about his life growing up. I have memories of stories. Memories of memories told not by my dad but by relatives. One being when he was a young man driving down seven devils highway when he sees the front wheel of his Model A? T? rolling down the hill in front of him. But little about his life there. I know he built a house at one time and his dad died working in a sawmill.

I have other family stories of my mom who was born in Coquille Her father had 3 or 4 logging trucks that he lost during the depression. They then moved to Jacksonville and he worked as a caretaker at the Henley Ranch which is just a mile or two from where my brother lives now.

So vague memories of my own and memories of memories of stories is what I carry. When my brother and I are gone so will those memories evaporate in the mists of time and the mists of our minds. 

Sunset. Subject to interpretation.

Moving On

Rich's News From Camp Webegone

Monday, October 10, 2016

The Geriatric Gypsies 2016

Having turned 70 this year, I have the geriatric part well in hand. But Cheryl and I have been discussing that our love for Natural Bridge Campground has limited the gypsy part of the equation. So we have decided to not return there next year. We will miss this very much as in many ways it is the perfect working environment for us. And daily we get nurtured by its beauty. We are looking forward to embracing other beauty and add a little adventure to our next steps.

We plan on volunteering in other places and are looking online for opportunities with OPDR and the NFS. Transitioning from campers to RVers we find we need at least for part of the time more access to water and electricity. Especially dealing with the cold. Cheryl needs to find a bit more humidity as the dryness here creates sinus issues. And this summer she had an adverse reaction to spider bites. The bottom line is that a bit more serendipity is called for. We do plan on camping at Natural Bridge Campground next year just to enjoy the place without the duties.

It has been an exceptional year. The weather has been great. Very little rain. Which does not bode well for next year and we hear that the ocean will not cool, no el nino, so dry, hot weather may be the norm in Southern Oregon. We have had no forest fires near us and very little smoke in camp which has made it much more pleasant. With a hot, dry forecast for next summer it is probably a blessing for us anyway that we are looking at volunteering on the Oregon Coast. So stay tuned as the Geriatric Gypsies move from Camp Webegone to exploring Oregon.

A Surprise Find and some Fall Color

Cheryl's News From Camp Webegone
Thursday, September 29, 2016

What you don't want to find in your campground. This nest, the size of an adult head, was along the road on the way to the pit toilet nearest to our

Bald-faced wasp nest

camp. The maintenance ranger came and sprayed the nest. When the wasps were no longer moving, he removed the nest. I'm told he hung the nest above his office desk.

As cooler temperatures arrive, the leaves in the campground are beginning to show their fall colors.

Vine maple leaves after a recent light rain

Sunday Evening Musicals

Cheryl's News From Camp Webegone
Friday, September 23, 2016

This summer every Sunday evening Rich and I watched a musical DVD. Many of them our favorites, and others to expand our cultural exposure. Two films we watched were really films with songs, the Beatles' A Hard Days Night, and Disney's Frozen. If you are a fan of musicals and would like a musical mind puzzle..... Match the verse with the musical. Musical titles follow the verses.

1. All at once am I
Several stories high
Knowing I'm on the street where you live.

2. Seventy-six trombones caught the morning sun
With a hundred and ten cornet right behind
There were more than a thousand reeds
Springing up like weeds.

3. At the end of the day you're another day older
And that's all you can say for the poor
It's a struggle, it's a war
And there's nothing anyone's giving

4. If I were a rich man,
Yaha deedle deedle, bubba bubba,
Deedle deedle dum.

5. The soul of a knight
Should be a thing remarkable.
His heart and his mind as pure as
Morning dew

6.Way out west, they got a name
For rain and wind and fire
The rain is Tess, the fire's Joe and
The wind they call Mariah.

7. There were bells on the hill
But I never heard them ringing,
No, I never heard them at all
Till there was you.

8. I just kissed a girl named Maria,
And suddendly I've found
How wonderful a sound
Can be!
Maria!

9. Money makes the world go around
The world go around
The world go around

10. I don't know how to love him
What to do, how to move him
I've been changed, yes really changed
In these past few days

11. A law was made a distant
Moon ago here: July and August
Cannot be too hot

12. I'm gonna wash that man
Right out of my hair
And send him on his way

13. Maybe this time, I'll be lucky
Maybe this time he'll stay
Maybe this time, for the first time
Love won't hurry away

14. So Laugh in your loneliness
Child of the wilderness
Learn to be loney
Learn how to love life that is lived alone

15. Everything was beautiful at the ballet
Graceful men lift lovely girls in white
Yes, everything was beautiful at the ballet.

a. A Chorus Line
b. Cabaret
c.  Camelot
d. Fiddler on the Roof
e. Jesus Christ Super Star
f. Les Miserables
g. My Fair Lady
h. Music Man
i. Paint Your Wagon
j. Phantom of the Opera
k. South Pacific
l. West Side Story

Bonus: Which of the above songs did the Beatles sing on their album, Meet the Beatles?

Tidbits

Cheryl's News From Camp Webegone
Friday, September 16, 2016

Little bits of daily life, each too short for a solo blog.

When it is 34 degrees out, the pit toilet seat is very cold.

A few days before arriving at Natural Bridge Rich lost his hearing aid. A few weeks later his backup hearing aid took an unexpected plunge into a pit toilet, to remain there forever.

Mimi brought a live mouse into our tent while we were sleeping. She gave the mouse a merry chase. The poor little thing tried to hide in the bedding by Rich. He picked it up and flung the mouse out the tent door. I renamed Rich, Mouse Slinger.

It has been a pitch filled summer. Pitch on the bottom of our shoes. Pitch on

Pitch laced white fir cone

Mimi's paws. Pitch on clothing hung up to dry. Pitch on tables and chairs. The culprit this year is the white fir tree cone.

Carpenter ants have been eating our sleeping tent. They chew little holes, some the size of a pencil eraser tip. Their intent to gain access to the cat box. Moisture or an interest in cat pee? We sprinkled sage inside the tent where the floor and wall meet. No more carpenter ants.

This summer, especially September, has been perfect. And that of course is an illusion. The high and low temperatures have been mild. The last rain we had was at the beginning of June. No wild fires so no smoke filled mornings. A perfect illusion of a perfect life in Camp Webegone.

A Typical Work Day

Cheryl's News From Camp Webegone
Friday, September 9, 2016

If there is such a thing as a typical work day it would go something like this.

Rich, Mimi and I wake up. First off, Mimi asks to go outside to check out the great outdoors. I imagine she is hoping for a wandering mouse or chipmunk. After the three of us eat breakfast, Rich and I sit and read. Mimi looks for a sunny spot for a little nap.

Around 10:00 a.m., Rich and I begin our morning work round. Gathering the rake and backpack stuffed with toilet paper, paper towels, gloves and 409 we head out of camp on foot to clean the seven pit toilets. Enroute if there is a vacant campsite we do campsite clean up: pick up micro-debris which includes a lot of cigarette butts, sweep off the table and benches and rake the site. Next we walk the Upper Rogue Trail behind the campground picking up micro-

Cascade Lily along the trail.

debris. This is best part for me. It is really an excuse to walk along the Rogue River. The morning work round takes about an hour and half to two hours depending on the number of empty campsites.

Now it is lunch time. Yeah! Reading follows eating. If the weather is fine about 2:00 p.m. we go for a hike or other outdoor adventures. And if the weather is not so fine. Well, more reading of course.

Dinner time is followed by evening work round. We grab our bicycles and clip board and zoom around camp gathering vehicle license plate numbers, type of recreational vehicle, number of tents and the campers planned exit date. We also answer any questions posed by campers.

Rich and I wind down in the evening by watching a movie/DVD on a computer.The days go very fast. A common non camp related question, don't you get bored? In truth, there is not time to be bored. Rich and I love the flow of our work and off duty time.

Trials and Tribulations, not ours fortunately

Cheryl's News From Camp Webegone
Friday, September 2, 2016

Our first year at Natural Bridge our biggest challenge was helping folks jump start their car. This is the first year that Rich and I have had campers with emergencies. The first was a woman who fell and broke her arm while walking the trail in back of the campground. Rich drove her friend to their car so that the friend could drive the woman to the hospital. Our next excitement was the arrival at camp of the State Police and three sheriff vehicles. We were told that a young man or two were assaulting women on the trail between Union Creek and Natural Bridge. Our job was to notify the campers, especially the camp with all women and keep our eyes open. Maybe a week later we had a camper arrive at our camp stating that her husband thought he was having a heart attack. Not good. This emergency required using the NFS radio to call for paramedics and an ambulance. A few days later the wife and their son came to take home their trailer and camp gear. Her husband was doing well. Okay, that was our first four weeks at Camp Webegone. Since then we have had nothing serious, just keys locked in their vehicle, until this week. Monday a guy broke his ankle. Another call with the NFS radio asking for paramedics and an ambulance. As of today he has not returned to claim his stuff which is a dilemma for us. It is Labor Day Weekend and we may need every available campsite. All that said, Rich and I are doing well. Healthy and fit, at least for our age. Wishing you all a safe and fun filled holiday.

Cheryl and Rich

Visiting the Boundary Springs Burn

Cheryl and Rich at the start of the trail

 Rich and I have been very curious and excited to hike the Boundary Springs Trail and see the area after the big burn last summer.

Start of the trail warning sign.

The trail begins with a warning sign. We were not deterred even a little bit. 

Undamaged pine tree in burn area

 









It is interesting that during the fire, some trees were not damaged. Rich and I wondered what the circumstances were to leave this pine tree undamaged when everything around the tree is totally burned.

Rich in the burn area

Last year hiking the Boundary Springs Trail there were many wildflower meadows.

Rogue River and grass meadows

We wondered how the meadows fared post fire. One thing we learned on this hike, the fire hopped over canyons and ravines

 leaving the meadows near the river unscathed.

In this photo the green trees grow up from a ravine. In the foreground and background are burned trees.

The Boundary Springs Trail has not been maintained since the fire. Other trails, like the PCT, have a higher priority. Rich and I walked a bit of the trail until it was dicey, then walked the Upper Rogue River Trail. We feel confident that it won't take long for the area to recover and we hope that next year we will be able to hike to the headwaters of the Rogue River.

Beating the Summer Heat

Cheryl's News From Camp Webegone
Friday, August 19, 2016

You may wonder how Rich and I are surviving the current heat wave. Today's high prediction is 101 degrees.

Wednesday we headed to Shady Cove where we began our cool off in the air conditioned Fishing Hole for a bit of lunch. Then we headed to the air conditioned Shady Cove library for the afternoon. By the time we returned to camp, the temperature outside was tolerable.

Thursday we floated the Rogue River, the upper stretch where the rapids are rated a great big 1 but just right for me and my gimpy neck and spine. Sitting in the front I was completely soaked on more than one occasion. I had planned on a little photo journal of this float however, my camera refused to work while on the river. Worked just fine before and after the float! Anyway, here is the one photo when my camera was cooperating.

Rich getting ready to kayak

Today, Friday, Rich and I are sitting in the air conditioned Prospect Library. After our cool time at the library we will head to an air conditioned restaurant for dinner.

Saturday and Sunday's cooling plan are undetermined as of yet. Sit with our feet in the very cold Rogue River is one option. Back to the Shady Cove library is another. Or maybe you will find us sitting near National Creek Falls where the cooling  mist off the  falls is absolutely blissful on a hot day. Monday temperatures here will drop to the mid 80's. A temperature range where Rich and I can sit in our camp enjoying an afternoon of reading.

PS. We had a great float. The stretch of the Rogue River we floated is a nice combination of riffles, rapids and just plain floating. The afternoon float was enhanced by the sighting of three osprey, a kingfisher and a bunch of mallards.

National Creek Falls Hike

Cheryl's News From Camp Webegone
August 11, 2016

Rich and I do have many adventures as we navigate national forest roads, getting misplaced, not seeing partially or mostly damaged road signs and using maps that are less than helpful. That sentence is a lead up to our most recent hike where our map was less than helpful and a critical road sign was badly damaged and we drove right past it and the turn off to National Creek Falls. After wandering around then realizing we were slightly misplaced we back tracked until locating the turn off to the falls. The hike to the falls is short, one half mile with a mostly gentle grade. I hike behind Rich, following behind enough that I am not eating all the dust he kicks up. As I am bending and crawling under a large fallen tree, I hear Rich exclaim, OH MY. When I stand up I am facing National Creek Falls which is breath taking. The falls remind me of Ramona Falls in the Mount Hood National Forest. Rich said the falls is like Pearsoney Falls on steroids. Besides being gorgeous, the mist off the falls cooled our rather over heated bodies.

National Creek Falls

 After climbing back up the trail of many switchbacks to our vehicle we decide to visit Hamaker Campground which was closed last year. It is a beautiful campground consisting of ten sites that are now labeled dispersed sites. No fee, no water, no pit toilet, no campfires allowed and camp at your own risk. There were two campsites occupied.

So this is our third year hosting at Natural Bridge Campground and the first time visiting this falls. What is with that? Well, we had planned on hiking to the falls last August but the area was closed off due to the fire in the area. I was really excited to finally visit this stunning falls.

A Lesson in Cooking with a Dutch Oven

Cheryl's News from Camp Webegone
July 29, 2016

Cathy, Rich, Cheryl, Howard

Rich and I had a wonderful early morning visit from my cousin Howard and his wife Cathy. They came bearing many gifts: Wood, water, wild flowers, books and food to cook in dutch ovens. I do mean ovens. A 10" and a 12". Having never cooked in a dutch oven Rich and I were clueless about the whole process which begins with heating the charcoal until they are coals. You can buy a gizmo for this, but Howard made one by piecing together a couple large coffee cans. Once the charcoal is just right you get ready to cook. They brought cornmeal bread

to bake and peach cobbler. Cathy prepared both while Howard prepped the coals.

The peach cobbler went into the 12" dutch oven. The corn bread into the 10" oven. The appropriate number of coals, 15 I think, went onto a wok like disc. The 12" dutch oven sat over those the coals. Eight hot coals were put on top of the 12" dutch oven lid. The 10" dutch oven was placed on top of the 12", and Rich and seven or eight coals were put on the 10" lid.

Then a 40 minute wait and bingo! Brunch!

The four of us had very happy tummies!

Corn Bread

Peach Cobbler

Crater Lake with Snow

A Story in Pictures. Crater Lake.  Snow. And a sunny day.

Surprise. Flowers!

A dressed up Wizard Island.

Reflection of thunder clouds.

The building is the Gift Shop.

View toward the Klamath Basin

Reflections on an Aging Body

Rich's News from Camp Webegone

July 15, 2016

The other morning as I awoke with my shoulder aching from overdoing raking, I thought about pioneers who lived “off the grid” before there was a grid. The physicality of life. Chop wood carry water takes a lot of physical strength that

they had to do all their lives. No wonder when we look around we find people overweight. But also a measure of my own age as I near 70. Each year another diminishing of my physical capacity. It is humbling.

I am reminded of a bus ride in Haiti during my Peace Corps days, 1998 - 2001. Sitting next to a man who was old but who knows how old. He was next to the window and I finally realized he was peeing into a cup and tossing it out the window. Now with prostate issues I have greater understanding. It was so discrete and done with dignity. Life closer to the edge.

Rich with his work lance.

Life at Camp Webegone takes more physical effort. I am in better shape. Now to figure out how to make that happen when we are trailer bound in the winter. A challenge for us to address as we noticed a slug quality in our life as we hide from the rain and cold.

A Life Perspective Gazing at Trees

Rich's News from Camp Webegone

July 8, 2016

I noticed something the other day. Our first stint here at Natural Bridge at some point I got focused on the trees. I would walk the trails my head up trying to identify and remember which were Doug Fir, white fir, Ponderosa pine, white pine, Sugar pine, chinkapin tree, yew tree, vine maple, dogwood, lodgepole pine. I did learn to look at my feet and identify trees by the cones. The second year I managed to remember the trees and still focused there... But now I have become more familiar and my gaze has dropped and I am seeing more on the ground. I realized that as I identify more I can take in other things.

I am in the process of reviewing my letters from Haiti, 1998 – 2001, and notice the same process. The overwhelming macro view in Haiti eventually gets replaced with more individual views. Views that come from a backlog of experience.

This is a pattern of my life. Being overwhelmed by a county library or Powell's book store until I can find familiarity and identity particular pieces. I wish my parents had been good at helping me identify the natural life around me. It would have helped me. I get a sense of how Thoreau, living in the area around Walden pond, got to see the life there over a long period of time and seasons. He had incredible observational skills and took the opportunity to live in nature. Life in a Seed is a book of his observations as a Naturalist.

Bird nests, interesting rocks, geology in motion before your eyes, a white pine

with new foliage at its tips looking like skirts with fringes dancing.
Oops! Am now more sure these are Grand Fir..... stay tuned. The Macro view of the the Rogue river is now being more micro views as I see different views each year.

Breakfast in Bed

Cheryl's News from Webegone

July 1, 2016

The weather has finally warmed enough that we are sleeping in the tent. Mimi joins us sleeping through the night in the tent.

Mimi checking out critter homes in a stump

In Mimi's case night ends early, like about 5:00 am when she hears mice, chipmunks and birds foraging. To keep the peace, Rich and I let her out. Yesterday morning she returned and plopped a dead mouse on my sleeping bag. And yes, I was in the sleeping bag. She was excited and exuberant about her catch. The reaction she received was not the one she expected, I imagine.

This may have been her first catch of the season. With the winter snow, the mouse population has been greatly reduced. Brown mouse on white snow is an easy catch. At any rate, Mimi was excited, I wasn't.

One challenge is managing Mimi in the tent at night. When she hears a critter she claws at the tent door. In an effort to corral her, this year we purchased a metal pet play enclosure. Using fiberglass window screen material over the top of the enclosure so she can't jump out, Rich and I are ready for her. After one night of staying in the enclosure she figured out her best option; to leave the tent door alone. Sweet dreams for everyone.

Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let Snow.....

Visiting Crater Lake we had a wonderful surprise. Snow!

Snow laced trees at Crater Lake

 Beautifully snow laced trees. The feeling of excitement that snow brings us and inspires the occasional and spontaneous snowball fight.

Eva, Lisa and Rich delighting in the snow

This was a first for Rich and I. Crater Lake in the snow. Eva and Lisa staying at the Prospect Inn, were also delighted by the unexpected snow.





When we arrived to view Crater Lake, the lake was clouded over. For a brief moment the wind blew the clouds away from Wizard Island revealing a stunning view of the lake.

Wizard Island, 2016

Not the sunny, clear blue day we expected but a welcomed unexpected, joyous experience.

Video of Favorite Spot on the Rogue River - 2016 View

Rogue River 2016

Cheryl's News from Camp Webegone
Friday, June 10, 2016

Rogue River by Natural Bridge

With a rainy winter and a moderate amount of snow (below average though), the Rogue River is very full with lots of ruckus, rushing, turbulent water.

Rogue River by the footbridge 2016

The photo I took last year of this spot, the large rock was not covered with water.

Weather Update: We have had a little bit of everything. A few days of extreme heat, humidity and mosquitoes. I was miserable and began to question why I was volunteering at Natural Bridge Campground. That passed and was followed by a one-and-a-half to two hour thunderstorm that included lightening, rain and hail. No mosquitoes though. Yeah! My bites have bites. Today we are chasing sunny spots to warm up. The high will be about 63 degrees. Tomorrow morning should be in the high 30's. Extreme heat to extreme cold. Think I'll stay in the trailer tomorrow morning. One of the challenges and joys of Camp Webegone is experiencing the weather first hand. A sunny warm day is indeed a great joy.

Our First Week in Paradise

Cheryl's News from Camp Webegone

June 3, 2016

Weather: Sunny and warm each day

White Iris

May is the time of the white flowers. In the tree canopy, dozens of dogwood trees are in full bloom. Vanilla leaf blooms cover a large part of the campground. False solomon seal blooms dot the forest floor. There are hundreds of white iris is bloom. There is the odd bit of color in bloom, three calypso orchids. 

Calypso Orchid

Warm sunny days, cool nights, vistas of flowers in bloom and dappled forest light. We are in paradise.

Cheryl's News from LaPine, Oregon
May 24, 2016

A brief update to let you all know our whereabouts for the summer.

Rich, Mimi and I will arrive at Natural Bridge Campground in southern Oregon Wednesday, May 25, 2016.

We will be staying at Natural Bridge until the end of September, October 1 at the latest.

Visitors welcome and greatly appreciated. If you plan to visit, give us a heads up.

Mimi camping in LaPine. She hates the harness!

Cheryl's News enroute to Camp Webegone

May 24, 2016

Lava River Cave, Bend/Sunriver area

Rich, Cheryl and Mimi enroute to their summer camp at Natural Bridge stopped and camped for seven days of vacation in LaPine, Oregon. After resting for a few days they were ready for an adventure and visited the nearby Lava River Cave.

Rich descending into Lava River Cave

There really are no adequate adjectives to describe the cave. AMAZING, amazing, amazing is as close as it gets. The cave is just short of a mile long. A tiny section at the end of the cave is about four feet in height. A small section in the middle is about five and a half feet in height. The rest of the cave is 58' in height. At it's widest, 48'. At no point could I touch both sides of the cave.

Cave wall

And DARK. No light what so ever. Rich and I were very lucky. For about 20 minutes or so we were the only folks in the cave. We turned off our flashlight and lantern, twice. Standing beside each other I could not discern even a tiny speck of Rich. Dark. Standing in total darkness in the womb of mother earth, we listen to drops of water falling to the cave floor. Drips behind us, in front of us, beside us, and one discordant drip landing on Rich's jacket. The music of mother earth. The song of the cave.

Heceta Lighthouse from Cheryl

Cheryl's News from Heceta Lighthouse

March 31, 2016

View looking south from Lighthouse

Having participated in many tours, I had a clear sense (in my mind, at least) of what makes for a dull tour. And one of the key variables, to me, was always how connected the guide was to the audience - how the guide engaged them and determined what is of interest to them to hear about.

Okay, so, public speaking is not my forte. I bumbled along. It's way more difficult than you even imagine. And then there's the gaffe. With impromptu public speaking, there is always the moment you make a gaffe. It's like it's inevitable. So, mine was saying: “ the lighthouse keeper and his wives.” Oops!  

By the end of our stay, though, I think I had reached a point where I was able to give a reasonably interesting tour of the lighthouse. Thankfully, whew.

Prior to arriving at Heceta Lighthouse, I had, of course, imaged what our job would be like. I imaged that we would be indoors for our shift. This is not the case. Rather, we are outdoors unless we are giving a tour. As you may recall, March has had above normal rainfall. Rich and I scored again - volunteering outside during heavy rains. 

During heavy rain, at least there is a nearby staff building where we can be out of the rain and warm up. For the most part, though, Rich and I and the other volunteers (there were three or four of us), we stand outside. Stand outside in sun, rain and wind. We dress appropriately. On cold and wet days, I wear so many layers I can barely bend my knees or bend over. 

Hecta Head Lighthouse Nautilus looking up the stairwell

Now, as our time at Heceta Lighthouse comes to an end, there is a little bit of sadness leaving an area of such stunning beauty and leaving the other volunteers. Amongst those volunteering for the state, the volunteers form a community. A much needed community/family as we each travel across the USA, for the most part estranged from our families.

Even though we leave Heceta Lighthouse with heavy hearts, Rich and I joyously look forward to the end of May when we return to our usual summer camp at Natural Bridge Campground - the place that has become our Summer home.

Cheryl