Friday, May 27, 2011

It’s Time To Move On……

We arrived at Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge near Folkston, GA on February 1st to begin a 4-month volunteer commitment and already it is time to move on! We just finished our last day of work here today and over the weekend we will ready the coach to start our trip north.

We are the last volunteers to leave here for the summer so it has been very quiet here in Volunteer Village. Our only neighbors are 3 college interns and last night they prepared a great spaghetti dinner for us and give us gifts for the road. Colleen, Jasmine, and Matt went all out and everything was perfect right down to the strawberry shortcake for dessert.

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In addition to the folks that were here in 2008, we worked with a lot of new people too. Just a few are: Jamie, who is also leaving for a new job at a refuge in Detroit, “Fire” Sarah, all the great people at Oke Adventures, and Rhonda. What do I say about Rhonda……..she is without a doubt the most outspoken person I have ever met and I love her dearly!!! She says it like it is and is usually “right-on”! She was born and raised right here in southeast Georgia and is a true girl of the South, and when she gets excited her southern “drawl” is really strong. Stay with me, Girlfriend!!!!

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Our experience here at Oke NWR was at times exciting, such as the wildfires that are still burning in the Swamp after a month and will probably be burning for a long time, unless Mother Nature cooperates with some really good rains.

When the fires started we were concerned and everyone here put away all the things not needed for daily living and were ready to leave within 1/2 hour if necessary. But soon realized that we were in the safest place in the swamp….near the heliport! They definitely would not let the heliport burn!!!!!

But it is time to move on and go visit all our kids, grands, and greats in Michigan and in Seattle. We decided not to travel on the Memorial Day weekend, so we’ll leave here on Tuesday AM

Fort Knox and Mammoth Cave……here we come!!

Stay Tuned……….memoriald

1 comment:

Peggy n David said...

When do you folks plan on being in Michigan? We expect to be there the second week in July...if we are anywhere close, let's get together!