July 5, 2019

Friday, July 5, 2019

This is a picture of my home away from home. For the next three months I will be living in this 5^th wheel camper parked next to the bath house at Birchwood Camp. After living in a spacious parsonage, it is compact, but it takes care of my needs. And it gives me the opportunity to see what it might be like to be a Nomad and take a trailer on the road and traveling from place to place to help people recovering from disasters.

Flying to Alaska turned out to be my first adventure within this retirement adventure. The plane was late getting out of D.C. on Tuesday, and there were no connecting flights that night. So, I slept in a seat at the airport, which helps make this camper feel spacious! But the Alaska Airlines personnel were able to secure flights for all of us who were displaced. I was booked on a 6am flight allowing me to arrive in Anchorage at 8:30am the next morning. Relena Myers, the camp director, picked me up and drove me on up to the camp less than an hour away. I noticed a haze in the mountains as we drove, and she told me there were forest fires to the north and the smoke was drifting down into the city.

After I settled in, I found a couple other retired guys, Dave and Al, working in a huge pole barn/tool shed constructing supports to hold a huge tarp above a cabin to allow the tin roof to be dismantled and reroofed if it should rain. (It has been very hot and dry here!) As there were no groups in camp for the 4^th of July, I helped construct a support pole. I met a half dozen interns who are here as counselors for the summer and most of the half dozen camp staff. Lunch consisted of leftovers from camp meals the first part of the week which had been left for staff in a refrigerator. Campers here seem to have really good meals. The director invited me to her house to have dinner with her family, open to all staff and volunteers.

Independence Day was quiet here. The summer staff were given the day off and a van load of them went to the annual mountain race in Seward, AK. I was going to be up at 5 and go along but I missed them by a couple minutes. (I heard that I did not miss much as most of the race was out of town and up and down the mountain.) They got back around midnight – which is still twilight as sunset was at 11:35pm.

I spent the day getting oriented to the camp and getting caught up on some computer work. The wi-fi does not reach to the camper, so I have to walk to the dining hall and work from there. I restored some files that were temporarily lost when I left Penn Yan and archived those. I now am mostly operating out of new retirement file which includes this blog and my bucket list. I have added growing a beard to the list and so far it is in the rough scruffy look. Watch for a picture in the next blog when it grows out a little more.

We have an international group of 90 tango dancers here for the weekend. I had my first opportunity to be a host in the dining room for their brunch. I mostly made coffee and assisted in setting out the food and fielding questions of the campers. After a time of swimming this afternoon I will again be working with Al and Dave as well as doing some mowing and weed whacking of trails and grounds. Still hoping to see my first bear and moose – from a safe distance!