Spring In the Whetstones

Time is passing swiftly and now we have to think about leaving Kartchner Caverns State Park.

Before we arrived, we speculated on how we would adjust to the change from relocating our home about every five days to staying put for almost five months.  Well, the change has done us good.  We loved our time here and have decided to return – in October 2019.

While we were here we took care of a few years of delayed doctor visits – making the 60 mile trip to Tucson at least once a week.  We have new eyeglasses, new wedding rings, new legal documents, and for me – new front teeth.  While in Tucson, we ran all kinds of other errands and spent time with family and friends.  We made sure to eat in some of our favorite restaurants – Tucson Tamales, Chipotle, and Rubio’s to name the most frequented – all Mexican, of course.

Getting to see our family while we were nearby has been great.  Our daughter Amy, her friends Amanda and Chloe, camped with us one night in their tent on our site.  Amy has also come by herself for overnight visits.  Our granddaughter, Sarah, stayed overnight a few times and Sarah and her mom, Ann, also visited us one day.  Our friends Crystal and Jase spent a day with us here also.  We’ve seen Josh, Liz and Sawyer for lunch a few times.  I only got to have lunch with Jodi Tucker once but it was so good to be with her.  All this visiting back and forth feels great after missing them so much and it gave me a chance to cook for my favorite company.

Two family events stand out as highlights for our stay.  Sarah’s Spring Concert at her high school, Tucson High, gave us a chance to hear her sing in the choir and we were so proud of her lovely soprano voice.  And we managed to celebrate Josh and Amy’s birthdays with a joint dinner at Olive Garden.  Being on the road means we are often on the other side of the country when these important family events occur, so being able to celebrate together is a wonderful thing.

In between all the other things keeping us busy we still had to take care of mundane things.  We grocery shopped at the Safeway in Benson where the cashiers accepted me as a regular and I learned about their families and their health problems.  The Benson Post Office was another place that recognized me after many shipments of holiday and birthday envelopes to grandchildren.  The Walmart in Benson saw quite a bit of business from us but we never got any individual greetings there.

About every two weeks we drove the 20 miles into Sierra Vista to get our laundry done at Sierra Laundry on Wilcox Road. The proprietor was ferocious in her constant attempts to keep a clean facility.

We watched that small lady yell and complain when someone tracked in dirt or left the door open.  Yet she was sweet to us – giving us small gifts like flowers and a calendar.  She also would instruct me on the proper techniques of laundry.  This laundry facility was always clean and the machines always worked.  For us, it was a way to do five or more loads of wash in less than two hours.  A luxury to have endless huge dryers to quickly get those clothes dry.  We always had time to stop for lunch at the Pizza Hut Italian Bistro where Doug could get a gluten-free crust.  We are hoping the next place we land for any long length of time will provide us with convenient and efficient facilities and shopping.

Our work at the Caverns has proven to be satisfying – it has added a unique dimension to our lives and has given us a new miracle of nature to appreciate and learn about.  Doug has spent much of his time being a trusted Tram Driver.

After a long full day of transporting 15 to 25 tours of guests up and down the tramway, he is tired.  Doug also works as a Trailer – assisting our Lead Guides with their tours. I too work as a Trailer and I spent my Sunday mornings at the Portal of the caves, standing by in case of emergencies and acting a bit like a traffic controller.  I enjoy my shifts at the Gatehouse where I greet and give instructions to countless visitors.

I also work at the Front Desk.  And to round out our amazing experience here, Doug and I have now been trained by the Cave Unit to clean and close the caves two nights a week.  This new job means that after the last tour leaves, we enter with only the light of our headlamps.  We check the reports of touches in the cave and spray those with cave water.  We set up the foggers and lock all the doors and gates.  We love this particular task – it’s a rare privilege to be alone in the cave – in complete cave darkness – and we relish those moments.  We turn off our headlamps each time we are there to experience the deep darkness and absolute quiet – except for the occasional sound of a water drop – the heartbeat of the cave.  What an amazing experience this is!

A huge part of the fun here at Kartchner Caverns is being an integral part of the community. We live in the Lower Volunteer Village with fellow travelers.  Between the Upper and Lower Volunteer Villages we have about 18 to 20 rigs camped here.  There are also four to six campground host couples.  Our Village has 3 to 4 Rangers living in FEMA trailers.  Across from our site is a covered ramada with picnic tables and a fire pit.  We all meet there at night to enjoy each other’s company and the mesquite fire’s warmth.  It’s perfect for sky-gazing since this is a designated Dark Sky Park.  So – interesting company, snacks and drinks, beautiful sunsets – makes for pleasant evenings.  We call these get-togethers Flamingos because the call to gather is a plastic pink flamingo stuck on top of a tall pole.

The State Park also provides us with events. The staff and volunteers were honored for their contributions at an Appreciation Dinner.  We are now wearing our Volunteer Pins proudly.  We also attended the Regional Volunteer Venture which gave us an opportunity to mingle with volunteers from the state parks in the southeast region of Arizona.  We’ve helped with other events – Cave Fest, Star Party and ate great food at multiple pot lucks.  Can’t help but have a good time with these dedicated co-workers.

So now that Spring is here and the mesquite trees are getting their tiny green leaves, the ocotillos are showing signs of their orange-flamed blossoms, and the cactus wrens are making their final inspections of their nests in the prickly pears – now it is time for us to look towards our next adventure.

When we leave Arizona we head towards the Portland, Oregon area where we can’t wait to spend three weeks seeing our family, especially playing with Paisley and Griffin.

From there we head across to the confluence of the Snake and Columbia Rivers – Ice Harbor Lock and Dam – our next volunteer placement.  It is an Army Corps of Engineers Park.  We begin our work there on May 15^th and will stay until after Labor Day.  There our duties will be similar to Kartchner Caverns – giving tours, welcoming visitors, and helping in the visitor center.  We are looking forward to learning about locks and dams, fish, and Lewis and Clark history.

After that stint, our plan now is to cut diagonally across the country after Labor Day to get to our third volunteer position in Florida by December 15^th.  We had given up getting any kind of placement in Florida next winter – every place seemed to have long waiting lists.  And then we got a call for Oleta River State Park! It’s perfect for us with similar duties and only about 40 minutes from my brother and sister-in-law in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and less than an hour from our sister-in-law in Miami.  So it’s time to look forward to a warm winter in Biscayne Bay with family for the holidays.

Then we got a call for another placement in Oregon.  This one is at Stubb Stewart State Park, only a short drive from our family in Portland.  We have committed to working there for July and August 2019.  Bringing us close to our return to Kartchner Caverns!  These “jobs” are all exciting to contemplate but the timing is perfect to allow us the travel experiences in between.

For those of you wondering why we would want to “work” again let me explain:  All of these jobs are in interesting parks with duties that are really enticing.  We love the idea of giving back to the parks that have given us so much joy.  And, certainly not the least reason, for any where from 10 hours to 32 hours per week for each of us, we get a free full hook-up site.  Depending on season and state, that saves us about $40 per night.  So our budget loves this!  But we decided we wouldn’t do this unless we really wanted to do the tasks assigned and to be in that part of the country at that time.  We are just amazed at our luck in getting these particular jobs.

The many days of travel between positions takes us through states we have not yet explored and gives us many more adventures to enjoy.  This life just keeps getting better!