On Monday we completed the last of our formal training for our winter position at the office in Shark Valley. That was mostly a matter of radio procedures and daily operations. Just a little on paperwork but as volunteers we really don't have much of that. In the afternoon, Pam & I, along with one of the new seasonal rangers, made a trip to the park HQ down at the Pine Island area, a bit more than an hour's drive from here. We took stuff there, picked stuff up and did some forms that this park requires for us to live on site.

It was interesting in some ways as this park seems to have far more rules and such for volunteers and even a contract that you must sign for your RV pad. At this point I would have to say that the while the park staff have been nice, they do not really understand or appreciate the RV volunteer. We seldom take positions that ask for more than three days per week and for this we did make an exception and go to four days, or 32 hours each. There are times that we do wonder if we made a big mistake in doing so?  

At this point we plan to try and keep a positive attitude and see what happens. There are things which we really enjoy about this position so the key will be that the good must outweigh the negative things.  One item of news was that we also learned that the "Boogity Express" has now left this park due to conditions where they were volunteering. That note is mostly for Escapees members as Larry is a regular on their RV forum.