Our Job at Colossal Cave Mountain Park

We are still excited about our new job, even though they aren't ready for us...after a month??  So we were left waiting...and adrift.   Justin and Li (the doctor friends) fed us a delightful dinner, including the most flavorful and varied salad I'd ever had.  Since I think of a vegetable salad as dessert...it was the best treat possible for me.  They had about 5 acres that came with their gorgeous mountaintop home, and they invited us to park there overnight.

Their home is next to a preserve, and protective zoning has changed, so they will remain the only home at the top.  There were javelina and deer tracks among the cacti, so I hoped for visitors.

This is the sunrise the next morning.  Do Arizona skies behave like this often?

The Schmidt's home is steel frame with hay bale insulation--brilliant considering the climate... with no heating or air conditioning required.  The side of the home facing Tucson has a glass-walled family room with a grand piano and large, peaceful spaces that invite meditation.  The "official" family portrait is shown below...a fascinating holographic image.  It's the actual family that anyone would find ultimately fascinating...and gracious.  Tucson is so fortunate to have them!

Justin and Li told us the story of how they met in China and eventually married (in Tucson).  It was clear they should write a book.  We were so spellbound we missed church!

Can you tell we love Li and Justin?  We could stay forever, but on Monday we had an appointment with Martie and the park maintenance manager to figure out just what our duties would be.  This pic of the host site can be enlarged to see the nature of the road.  This is the only good section.  We learned in our meeting there were 3 maintenance people, but no work had been done.  The person who was to bring a grader in was "busy" and he'd need Martie to buy him a new blade, anyway  ???  Why would you have to buy a blade before renting equipment??

We had to wait some more, so I decided to unwrap this great gift of nature.  The canyon we were parked in led up to a wild campground called La Selvilla.  The road to it had been washed out, but instead of fixing it, they had posted signs directing you to drive up the dry river bed.  I picked up trash as I walked and threw bigger rocks out of the "road" just to feel useful.  I discovered the Arizona Trail crossing the campground and followed it for a while, delighting in the rock formations and plants it led me to. 

The next day we found La Posta Quemade Ranch, which is run separately, but Martie gets a percentage.  We saw two full wagons departing the ranch in the rain with the happiest passengers you'd could imagine.  They were all older, but as giddy as little kids getting a pony for a birthday.

I think I'm giddy, too, having always been horse crazy.  Living in a park with a real, working ranch was going to be great!  But what about getting busy with camp hosting?  There's signs posted (BIG ones) saying you can only camp one night.  Martie was not aware of that.  The bathrooms needed cleaning, but one of the maintenance people, Skip, said the boss told him there wasn't any money for cleaner.  ??

What me worry?  No, we just went on a tour of this dry maze cave they call Colossal.  I had already read so much about the cave that I'm sure I could have given the tour myself.  In fact I was so enamored by the Indian and robber history of the area as well as the flora and fauna that I was consuming information wholesale.

Meanwhile...no likelihood of the roads being fixed...and Bill, an arachnid researcher working in the cave, informed us of many things that were less than satisfactory in the operation of the cave...including a maintenance team "that did nothing".  I said I'd start working on the road if I could get a shovel and a wheel barrow, as I'd found a pile of road base...but that just brought chuckles.  We may be dry camping for quite a while, just dreaming of FHUs on those cold Arizona desert nights. 

P.S.  Dr. Bill Savary is not only the wild cave tour guide, but a good friend of Justin Schmidt (Bob's friend).  As a herpetologist, he has been allowed to go into the park's pristine caves and has discovered new species of critters.  These caves are so delicate they are even closed to researchers now.  You may contact Bill through tucsonherpsociety.org or if you'd like to know more about reptiles, email him at:  bsavary@mindspring.com

Horses R-WELCOME at Silver River State Park

Water Pump & Kiosk at Trailhead

Lottie gets a drink from the hand pump.  A careful check of the trail map on the kiosk in the Silver River parking lot sets you up for the best of adventures. Trails are marked orange, green, pink and red; there is also a river trail...and the river is simply gorgeous...preserved from human harm and lined with mounds of flowers, monkeys swinging on branches, and alligators of all sizes ignoring you.  If you do all the trails and wiggles, the trail is 10 miles. 



Even people who don't own a horse can experience the trail on horseback. Silver River State Park has contracted with Cactus Jack's Trail Rides for guided trail rides seven days a week.   You have to make a reservation because the horses don't live in the park...they have to ride in their trailer to meet up with you.  The cost is $55 plus tax for 2 hours.   It is a wonderfully interesting and pretty ride.  The sounds and sights are all wild:  deer, hogs, hawks, owls.  Of the 151 state parks in Florida, only 32 have horse trails...and this trail system is new. 

I've decided my initial exuberant reaction to Silver River SP was well justified.  It has it all...!

The park not only preserves 5,000 acres of natural Florida but its natural history.  We were told that camp hosts love being in their park, but rangers don't.  We've seen enough at the 20 or so state parks we've stayed at to say that this is mostly true.  Rangers very often start out as volunteers.  But once they switch to the strict schedule and requirements of a ranger, they make the "sad change"...from pure enjoyment of their surroundings to "just another day at work".  Even the most enthusiastic volunteers will succumb once their freedoms are restricted and the pressure of constant evaluation and added requirements sets in.  We are happy to stay in the volunteer category.  You really do have to PAY for a pay check.

Need to save money on the best horse ride in the East?  Check out http://www.groupon.com/  Search for current coupons to this or any other great attraction.  Have fun!

How to get Camp Hosting Jobs (National Parks)

It was September 2011 and we had no job to go to in Florida.  Then I was struck with an idea....an inspiration?  Well, we had been praying.  Why not apply to a national park?  Unlike Utah, Florida has only one.  So we called their volunteer coordinator.  Bob was so excited! because the job he was told about was being an interpretive guide at the formerly secret Nike Missile Site in the Everglades.  The RV site provided was just a mile away in beautiful woodland... so we could bike to the visitor's center.  Wow!...with our science background, this had to be the job.  We'd get a uniform and a propane allowance.  The job had barely been posted on http://www.volunteer.gov/gov/    We were told to fill out the online application.  We'd already sent in the paperwork to get a background check and an authorization for driving a government vehicle.  We needed to take a defensive driving course, provide a driving history (listing all of the vehicles we could drive and our hours on each of them) and a DMV 3-year driving record.  There's pages of government paperwork.  I can send you a copy, if you'd like.  The required driving tests were a bit intimidating.