We arrived March 1st to begin our 4 months as volunteers at Myakka River State Park.
Many of you may not know how interesting it can be to live in your RV fulltime, or maybe even part time, and volunteer some of your time at a state park! You provide valuable muscle to a resource that protects and yet showcases Americas wild beauty and wildlife! What a way to retire!!! We have several people working in this park escaping the harsh winter up north. Connie and Cecil leave their small farm in Michigan and volunteer those cold winter months in warmer, sunny Florida at the wonderful state parks here. A volunteer is requested to work 2 to 4 months and be required to work 10 to 20 hours a week and in return get a campsite with full hook-up. This is a win-win for you and for the State Park Service! Every state has state parks and every state has volunteers. This is the link if you are interested in volunteering.
http://www.floridastateparks.org/getinvolved/volunteer.cfm
Here, at Myakka River, Chuck and I are cleaning cabins. There are 5 cabins built by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The cabins are snuggled in with the beautiful oaks and tall palm trees.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myakka_River_State_Park
We were asked to arrive on Saturday March 1st. We got here about 3pm and they brought us to the best site possible for us! We love it here! Most of the volunteers are down near the office actually in the park. Still other volunteers are over in the STOP camp across the highway. We lucked out and are the only volunteers here, sharing our space with the park rangers.
We have a lovely space with no real close neighbors and plenty of room to walk with the dogs. One of the trails from the park run right behind us!
I found an old long handled fishing net propped up against a tree. The net was long gone. Didn’t take me long to re-purpose it! I had a hummingbird feeder, but no good branches to hang it from. I took the net frame, turned it upside down and had Chuck bungee cord it to a post and hung the feeder! YaY! No Hummingbirds yet… but I am sure as soon as they discover it…..
On Sunday, the volunteers all gather at the STOP camp for a yummy covered dish dinner! Seems this is a Sunday tradition. It is a good way to meet other volunteers and share experiences. All the home cooked food was wonderful! I made my green chili chicken enchilada casserole, the dish was scraped clean! This is where we have covered dish on Sunday and volunteer meetings.
Monday we pulled out our camp chairs and decorations and settled down to enjoy our Kindles. Work begins on Tuesday. Tuesday was more of an orientation than actual work day.
Shirley and her husband Ed are also volunteers working the cabins. She came in to show us how to read the ticket for what cabins needed cleaning and how to bundle the sheets and towels needed for each cabin.
Wednesday Phil came to take us to cabin 5 and taught us how cleaning should be done and what was expected of us. Thursday we had another day of learning from Mike. Thursday was an awful day! Not because of the cabins but because of the rain! It rained and thundered the whole 4 hours we worked! We dragged in more mud and dirt into the cabins than what was in there to begin with making more work for ourselves! Mike was more detail oriented than Phil so we learned a bit more that day.
Almost as soon as we got off work, the rain stopped! Chuck and I were soaked clear through! As soon as we got in the door we shucked off the wet clothes and put on dry warmer clothes! I didn’t feel like cooking so we took off exploring and landed at a Chili’s restaurant off Bee Ridge Road. We had a bubbly waitress named Kylie who was fun and a good waitress. She had never heard of workamping or of volunteering and the benefits so we enlightened her. Of course she has several decades ahead of her before she retires!
The wild iris is beginning to bloom in the park! So beautiful! We enjoy working as volunteers. We have worked as volunteers in Utah at Spring Hollow campground near Logan Utah, and Zion River Resort near Zion National Park, in Mimbres NM near the Gila Cliff Dwellings. Although we enjoyed working at those places, our favorite gig was in Truth or Consequences NM at the River Bend Hot Springs! Loved working there and we loved our boss Jake and all the folks we worked with that summer but most of all we enjoyed soaking in the hot springs there and tubing down the Rio Grand River!
Life is what you make of it! We like traveling and seeing life in different places and spaces. Workamping allows you to intimately get to know a place, with 3 or 4 days off you can explore and hike and try all new restaurants! You might want to consider this life style one day. Chuck and I are able to live off of our SS every month and volunteering keeps us busy and happy!
Here are some links to explore. Most private campgrounds want a commitment of 6 months. Most State Parks ask for 2-4 months commitment.
http://www.workampingjobs.com/
http://www.workamper.com/
http://www.workamper.com/membertype/
Hope you enjoyed finding out more about volunteering as a way of travelling. It’s free rent and it’s where ever you want to be! What a way to retire!
