April 2009

April 1st was a fun day, getting things ready - we had packed up in March, and had stayed at an undisclosed area. I did not take a picture because I did not want people to know that we were just right up the street from Sasha's work. But we had to leave that area, as we had parked the rig there since Monday. At least it lasted a couple of days.

I also had to say good-bye to the folks at Heritage Museum of Loudoun County. They gave me a nice send off, but it was sad to leave them. I so wanted to go to the Bunny Bonanza. That is April 8th for anyone that is in the area.

April 2nd, we moved to another undisclosed location, I will put up the picture once we leave here, but this is a more common area to RVers, just not to suburbia people. (Walmart in Sterling area, worked out well for several days - nobody bothered the truck or trailer and we were able to get in and out very easily.) Thanks to Melanie and Alan for a great dinner at their house, it was delicious and the company was great! We will miss you.

April 3rd - HAPPY Birthday to my niece, Lindsay Michelle Lawrence! It is also moving day for us, we will be heading out this afternoon, going first to Sasha's parent's house, then Stafford, then Flying J and then, and then, CAPE HATTERAS! It will probably take a while to get down there.

April 4th - We went further down en-route to Cape Hatteras, finally stopping at a hole in the wall sort of place - across the street there were signs stating no parking but where we were, no signs, we thought it was a deserted restaurant, but it turned out to be a gas station, with a really big side lot. Just behind the fence was a trailer park. We woke to the birds chirping good morning.

As we got closer and closer to Buxton and Cape Hatteras, the internet started getting less and less. I know that I will not have internet at the park, but hopefully will be able to get WIFI occasionally at a few areas in Buxton.

Sasha and I actually got into the park before lunch, and got the camper and trailer set up. We forgot we did not have a rug to put out, so we will have to go somewhere and get a rug. We got the hookups done and met at least the people right next to us, Pam and George - two RVers that volunteer at this park. They will be here until June or July.

April 5th - Sunday - Sasha decided that he would stay until Tuesday morning, to help me organize the spot better as well as to hear about my first day at "work" on Monday. Once we had got the covered gazebo up (screened in tall tent - I guess you would call it - I'll get a pic up soon), we took a walk over to the lighthouse and a little walk on the beach. I believe it will take me about a half an hour to walk over to the lighthouse and visitor center. For right now, I will walk over, maybe later we might get a bike for me. We shall see.

Sasha got the trailer better organized, then we went over a few things that I did not know how to do (dumping the gray and black tanks and using the iPod better.)

April 6th - On Monday, Sasha was such the good househusband! I made breakfast, but he cleaned up, made the bed, did the laundry, folded it up, and put it away! Am I lucky or what? He then worked on his motorcycle, getting it in tip-top shape for ride back. He also filled up the truck tank with diesel (we had filled the extra tanks at Flying J). He cleaned up the camper as well.

I, on the other hand, had training up at headquarters in Manteo, NC. It is about 1 hour drive up there. I was basically signing my life over to the government. I had to show two forms of ID, and then we had approximately 3 hours of signing different paperwork. Since I came in with the returning seasonal people, I had a few more questions than them. But I managed to get my paperwork done pretty quickly.

We then had safety training (this is a big issue - understandable) as you are outdoors all the time, in all types of weather. It is not like an office setting where everything is always the same.  I remember having this type of training every year when I was working as a geologist, on different sites. Being outside can be hazardous if you are not careful.

Good training all the way around. I went to the training with two other people from Cape Hatteras - Ben and Aaron, they are returning seasonal rangers. After training, we checked out Bodie Lighthouse on the way back and then went back to Hatteras and checked in with Laura S, the Chief of Interpretation.

I walked back to the camper, and Sasha and I had a nice dinner - quick and easy. It was our last night together for at least 2.5 weeks. I do not think I have been away from him for that long - when I worked the last geologist job, it was 10 days away, this will be probably 17 days. I'll be counting them down.

April 7th - I woke a bit early, anxious to start training, today doing interpretative training) but also sad because Sasha would be leaving today. I made breakfast, and we ate together, then I got ready and left. Sasha left the park around 11 am, to get to my parents house around 5 pm - he took a bunch of breaks.

The training was great, I loved learning about interpretation and learning about the park. I met some more people that I will be working with, all new to this park, and only one other person who was a newbie like me - never worked in a National Park before. All of them live in the "trailerhood" as they like to call it - I think of it as double-wides. These are not RVs but actual trailers. I'll have to check them out when I get a chance.

We have training all this week. We are in the town of Avon (OMG too funny - like Avon by the Sea, NJ where I spent my summers) for the training. During lunch I was able to get online, so I am hoping to upload my writings tomorrow so that you all can find out how we have been doing. I hope to have pictures up in the next couple of days. We shall see.

Well, it is late, I should get a good night's sleep. I want to do some yoga in the morning. I've been having a slight backache the last couple of days, probably a little tense and slightly stressed from moving.

April 8th - Sasha left to go and finish working for the next 3 weeks. So I am here by myself. Have to make sure I do the dump thing every couple of days, But with only myself washing up and doing the dishes, I do not have to do it so often.

Meeting a bunch of people today, some from Buxton area, others for within the Cape Hatteras National Seashore and other National parks within Outer Banks area - Wright Brothers and Fort Raleigh.

Over the next couple of days, I was in training until Friday. I had Saturday and Sunday off. So on Easter Sunday, I went with Alicia (she is going to go up to Fort Raleigh later this season) to the Elizabethian Gardens. It was wonderful. Unfortunately, I did not have a camera, Sasha has it to sell the car. So no pictures. I will get pictures in May.

On  Monday through Friday, we had more training and I went over to the Trailerhood, to met some of the folks. 

The lighthouse was going to be open on Friday, so we all had to get used to the schedule for lighthouse duty. There are three rangers working at the lighthouse at all times.

Sorry, did not get everything in and totally forgot what I did. Will try to remember later.

This month had better be less expensive than last month! - AGAIN NOT! Yooza!

The reason for high expenses this month was that we bought a Mac laptop! Otherwise it would have been lower. But Sasha wanted his own computer, and we decided to go the Mac route. Also, since we were away from each other this month, the Meals to Go was a little higher than it should be.

First off, we sold our car, so now we are down to just the Truck and Sasha's Motorcycle! Yahoo on that - less insurance and less maintenance now that there is one less vehicle. So May transportation costs should be going down. But this month we were separated and so Sasha was living with his parents and having to drive to work. He would take the car just in case someone called wanting to see the car.

Sasha also got the rest of the maintenance done on the motorcycle, so now, when he has to do an oil change or other stuff, he can do that himself.

So working in the National Park is great and our rent is pretty low - can't find that price anywhere along the Outer Banks for a monthly rental. However, that does not include propane, so we filled up our tanks before we got here, just in case. We are going to check out solar heating of the water when it gets warmer, so that we do not have to use the propane as much.

We did buy some stuff for the camper - it is not really camper services, more like camper stuff, like post office keys and I do not know why I put ear plugs in camper services - it should be probably under health - sometimes I am not sure where to put stuff, and so that is where it goes. Also too, although we bought stuff at Lowes and Home Depot, it was not for us, but for Sasha's parents, but we put it in our camper services area. As the camper is now our home, I guess you could call it home services.

But the biggest expenses this month came under Communication. I was getting calls left and right from family and from Sasha since we were separated for THREE WHOLE WEEKS so there were LOTS of calls. So we upped the amount to 600 minutes this month. Of course, a week after we upped it, Sasha was home, and the amounts of calling went way down, but with this plan, I do not have to use up the minutes each month, I can extend it out to April 2010. Obviously, I will be using up the minutes before then, but it just goes to show, having a pay as you go plan can work well for those that need it. And it is so much cheaper than the big name brands.

We also got a refurbished Mac Book for Sasha. So that cost was in communication. Plus, we set up a wifi hot spot at the camper so that we both could be on the computer at the same time. Sasha did this on one of the first days when he got back, and so we now have 5 GB Verizon USB card connected to a router.

We also bought a ton of storage for files-mostly for pictures and Sasha's music collection, but one of the "chores" for Sasha in the coming months is to work on the picture collection. We have pictures all over the place and they really need to get organized.

Health insurance is the same for me, in June, Sasha will start paying for his insurance. We shall see how bad it is then. I also put haircut in the health spot.

Well, you can see the fun stuff, we did some fun things including getting the newspaper a couple of times and Sasha got a box of cigars - hopefully that will last him a while.

And then, for me......Gardening again! Although I am not doing the exact Square Foot Gardening with the wooden boxes - I got containers and used the Mel's Mix for the soil and used his procedures to grow some stuff. I now have lettuces, radishes, spinach, rosemary, basil, beets, calendula, nasturtiums, chives, and arugula. Lots of stuff for the salad, even though there is not that much of it. I keep picking it and eating it on the way to work.

Under gifts - it was Lindsay's birthday this month, so we got her a nice present. Unfortunately that was the weekend we were leaving so I was not able to see her on her birthday, but I heard she had a great day!

Check out Next Month: May, the start of the programs