28 Days

Sept. 1, 2016 

The countdown has begun. In 28 days we leave our summer home outside Daniel, Wyoming and once again begin another life chapter. Are we ready? 

When we arrived in May - Look at the snow on the mountains!

Today - No snow on the mountains and leaves!

HECK YEAH! 

It’s been a season packed with lots of good, a sprinkling of bad and a touch of ugly. The good includes an abundance of wildlife, most of which literally came into our front yard! From moose, antelope, deer, badgers, weasels, otters and elk to geese, sandhill cranes, osprey, bald eagles and red tailed hawks. It’s been a joy and a privilege to sit upon Mother Nature’s stage! 

The bad includes working 7 days a week, which we knew was part of the volunteer positions we accepted. Technically we have 2 days a week “off” but keeping track of campers is still expected and they still came knocking on our door with questions and/or problems. Folks still try to sneak in and avoid paying camping fees whether it’s our “day off” or not and we still have to chase them down and squeeze a measly 10 bucks out of them… lesson learned. 

Which leads right into the ugly part….let’s chat about slackers. 

Admittedly we’ve not volunteered in a park with a “self-pay” policy and now I know why. Some people confuse self-pay with free-will donation and when you combine that with our past volunteer positions that implemented a “no pay- no stay” policy ya’ get an ugly kind of experience. Which, involves chasing “slackers” down at midnight to collect $ or in the wee pre-dawn hours before they try to sneak out. Some days it felt more like a parole officer position than a volunteer camphost position. I’m not even going to get into the dump station “self pay” stats. Again, it ain’t pretty and lessons learned. 

Overall the good outnumbered the not so good and we met dozens of good honest folks who enjoyed every moment they could cram into their travels, some we will remain in contact with for years to come. Friends and family have come to visit and those visits have been a treat indeed! We’re expecting a few more visitors before we depart and that’s a double bonus!

The day trips we took to Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone and as far as we could travel in a day throughout the area were amazing! The history and landscapes are fascinating and breathtaking! 

Lower Falls Yellowstone National Park

Yellowstone National Park

Green River Lakes

Green River Lakes

Cottonwood Creek

We’ve begun the sort and toss process to lighten the load before we go into travel mode. Made mental notes on where we’d like to wander yet before we pull up the jacks and move on. And cross our fingers that we are granted the gift of an Indian summer for our remaining days in Wyoming. 

28 days til the wheels begin rolling and I can't wait!