Fall Migration

What a busy week this has been!

One delightful event...  I was doing some computer stuff in the office on Wednesday and a couple arrived at the Visitor Center.  I started my usual spiel about.. "Where ya from?" etc...  and the guy told me that his wife (who was outside in the informational kiosk) had been reading my blog and they decided to visit Aroostook NWR.

Earlene and Victor and their Westies, Izzy and Bryan came all the way from Oklahoma City just to meet me.  Okay...  not quite true...  but they did drive up from up from Bangor...  and that's a "fur piece".  I was thrilled to meet someone who reads my blog - made my day!  Earlene and Victor have been "on vacation" since April...  aren't full-timers, but sure sounds like they're on the road a lot.  I got to take them on a Refuge tour...  we didn't see any moose, but they were happy to see a loon.  

Earlene doesn't write a blog...  I hope she does one of these days...  it's so interesting to read about other travelers!

We pretty much wrapped up things here this week...

Bill & Kirk worked on the new road every day.  

That's Kirk in the brown shirt...  Bill is in the blue shirt just in front of him.  You can see how big the equipment they use actually is!

It's not done yet...  but since it's not slated to be finished until next year, that's no problem.

I continued to mow...

Yes, I was cold!

The game camera picked me up as I was working....

And to check my game cameras....

Another Game Camera shot...  

(They really aren't very flattering....)

On Thursday, Steve and Kirk took Steve's wife Erin, and me and Bill out to lunch.  We went to a restaurant with a fantastic view of Long Lake..  called, of all things...  Lakeview Restaurant.  I didn't take any photos... always feel like I've overdone the snapshot thing with the folks I work with.  But maybe a little because taking photos would make it seem so final.

While we plan to take a year off from volunteering here, we definitely plan to come back another year....  probably 2014.  We've been here 6 different summers...  This summer we were here 13 weeks.....  Bill worked 714 hours which averages 55 hours per week.  I'm a bit of a slacker...  worked 575 hours, averaging 44 hours per week.  We work those hours not because they are required (most refuges ask 32 hours per week), but because we truly love the place and like what we do.  But...  it's time for a break...  time to see what else the summers could hold.

So tomorrow we start our fall migration...  we'll head down to Bangor, then on to the Cabela's in Scarborough, Maine...  then across to New York to visit our daughter and son-in-law, AND our granddaughter AND our great-granddaughter!  

From there it's on to Ohio where we'll visit our son and my siblings...  park our rig...  head to the Columbus, OH airport...  fly to Seattle to take a cruise up the Inside Passage...

Then fly back to Ohio...  pick up our rig...  and head to Texas.

That's sort of the short version...  but I probably won't have an opportunity to catch up on my blog (or anyone else's) for a while.

And then a whole new adventure will begin...

The End

That's All For Today!