November 6, 2000
I'll stick a few pictures in here and there, but in the main the writing is simply a copy of a letter that Barb wrote to her co-workers in Seattle. She did such a good job of describing things here at Avon Park, that I won't even attempt an editorial. Well, maybe not.
And she says, "Hey, after all this time, we’ve landed for a short time. We’re in Avon Park, FL, for the next four or five months, doing some volunteer work at the Avon Park Air Force Range. It is located in south central Florida between St. Petersburg (south of Tampa) on the Gulf side and Fort Pierce on the Atlantic side.
We arrived at our current location on Friday, October 27. We applied for this volunteer “work” through an ad in one of our RV magazine subscriptions. Avon Park Air Force Range (just east of the city of Avon Park) is 106,000 acres of mixed forest and rangeland; it is considered a “mixed use” facility. Approximately 82,000 acres are open to the public, having been converted to hiking, hunting, fishing, and camping type activities. The Dept. of the Air Force administers all recreational activities; it is an active Air Force installation. Entrance gates are manned by armed personnel of the Florida Dept. of Corrections. Yes, the facility has a prison with about 2,000 inmates and a facility for youth which has programs designed to get these younger offenders back on the straight and narrow—to what success we don’t know. The facility is used by several (if not all) branches of service for one thing or another (Air Force, Army, Navy, and Reserves for sure, and maybe the Marines & Coast Guard too).
We are one of 12 couples (so far, a few more are expected)—all RV’ers--who volunteer their services here. In return, we get a free site with full hookups (water, electric, sewer), and free use of washers & dryers. We are on the installation, just inside the main gate, and feel very secure and comfortable; it is clean, spacious, and we’re perfectly level (sometimes that’s a challenge), and surrounded by grass which we love (sometimes it’s dirt or gravel).
(Dave here) On the left is the nose of our home, the boat on its hand-pull cradle, and across the street and through the trees you can see lake Arbuckle. On the right (I just turned around) are the rest of the volunteers RV's.
(Barb again) Our volunteer services are used at the two entrance gates during hunting season which runs from around October 1st to the end of April each year. They have archery season (Sept. 23 to Oct. 22), muzzleloading gun season (just finishing up this weekend, Oct. 28 to Nov. 5), general gun season (opening up Nov. 11 through Dec. 31), small game only season (Jan. 1 to Mar. 4), and spring turkey season (Mar. 17 to Apr. 22). We work three days a week, six hours a day; our first day of “work” was last Thursday (Nov. 2)—my shift was from 5 to 11 a.m. Thursday, Friday, Saturday; Dave had the 5 to 11 p.m. shift on the same days. Three shifts altogether, the other is 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The fourth period, 11 p.m. to 5 a.m. period is manned by FL Dept. of Corrections staff without volunteers.
So, what do we do? Check hunting permits and count the number of hunters and vehicles that come in and leave. Now, this is real complicated! I have to tell you, though, that if my life depended on a 100% accurate count, I’d probably have died in these first three days. When four or five trucks are lined up with some having from one to five passengers, it can get confusing; I’ve resorted to a notepad and pencil, then I register the numbers on the little machines they have. Amazing, huh! Dave’s gonna go nuts, but read on below. There are a few other odd “jobs,” any of which is of interest to Dave, but since we’re low guys on the totem pole, well…we have to wait. (In muzzleloading season, they hunt deer and hogs, and I saw one of each in the bed of hunters’ pickups a few days ago.) Dave is currently on duty at the main gate and I just heard him laugh—our RV is that close to the gate. Now, having a “job” where I can walk to work in a minute or less and go home to go potty is really something!
(Dave again) Past the nose of the RA is the laundry room (I don't mind the walk at all) and beyond that is the gatehouse peeking out, and the picture on the right is of Barb and Debbie in the gatehouse. Debbie (another volunteer) was training Barb, and as you can tell by the newspaper and magazine, they're really working hard. Actually, this was a lull in the action. Believe me, it can get hectic with 10 to 12 cars/trucks/trailers lined up. This is the main gate for the facility, and employees, military personnel, visitors, hunters, fishermen and recreation people all use this gate.
And this is what they see as they drive up. And while you may not be able to see it, just to the right of the laundry room is our trailer, the Road Abode. Only we're happy to let it sit for a while right now.
(Barb) Now, there’s a walking trail behind our RV site that is open. So, before we started our jobs, Dave and I decided to take the walk. We were casually moving and marveling at the wild citrus trees in the woods with oranges on the ground, the palm trees, the huge air plants, and many moss-covered trees when all of a sudden Dave’s talking to someone I heard answering him, but cannot see. Now I don’t mind telling you that this intrusion of what I thought to be some private moments, was at once a bit spooky. The answer was coming from above—a hunter was perched in his chair about 15’ above us with his gun, waiting for deer or something to come down that trail we were so innocently walking on. Dear Dave was all apologies for the intrusion, though the hunter admitted that it was indeed a walking trail we were on and no apologies were needed. Now, you ask, can they hunt so close to “home?” The answer is yes, the on-site military can hunt there--the boundary happens to be on the south side of the trail, and they (there were two of them) were right on the boundary. Isn’t life exciting!
The best part, besides this fantastic weather (has been low to mid 80’s since we got here with no sign of rain; we’re back in shorts and tank tops--eat your hearts out!) is our location. Man, Lake Arbuckle is across the street and, we are told, is one of the best bass fishing lakes in Florida. We step out of our RV, roll our little 8’ folding boat across the street, down the ramp, and we’re in the lake fishing. Now, you have to know that this really counts—major points--in Dave’s world! So far, we’ve caught small fish (a “spec” (speckled perch), small catfish, and a red-eared sunfish which were promptly released), none of which was a bass, but then, our (new last May) four-horsepower Johnson motor is in the shop, so we can’t travel too far yet.
(Dave sez) And this is the ramp she was talking about, and so far she's caught the most fish, too. This was actually the second fish she caught, I was too preoccupied to get a picture of the first one. Eventually she took a fish off the hook herself, as my mood was deteriorating. Just kidding, it's usually that way. She somehow manages to out-fish me most the time. Been that way since our Alaskan days. I really don't mind, and in fact get a kick out of her getting all excited with a "fish on".
(Barb again) Actually, we’ve been what we call “lily pad fishing.” We’re usually out there in early morning or late afternoon; late afternoon usually brings a small breeze, so we throw a line around a lily pad which anchors us just fine, then we fish. We have also enjoyed a couple of awesome sunsets anchored to those lily pads. When the engine’s up and running, we’ll venture further out, where those big bass fishing boats and big-fan, noisy airboats go. By the way, the bass fishing boats are flat for a very good reason; the deepest part of this huge lake is about 6-8’, but most of it is around 2-4’. I have to tell you that it kinda bugs me when Dave insists that I wear my life vest; for crying out loud, I couldn’t EVEN drown in that lake. Heck, I could get out of the boat and fish standing up! Ah but you know Dave and safety--mostly a blessing, occasionally a curse! Bless him!
(Dave) And this is just to prove that lily pads will in fact hold this huge boat of ours just fine. And yes, it's big enough for two of us. That's Terry, another volunteer, sitting in the bow. We used the electric trolling motor that day..... until the switch burned out, and we had to come home in reverse! Got another ordered. Even with all the fun we're having, life still seems to get in the way of "perfection."
(Barb) Speaking of air (airboats), the trees around us are full of air plants, not only those small ones we’re familiar with, but some really giant ones. The trees, many cypresses, are full of hanging moss which is kind of interesting; the moss is actually growing on some overhead wires as well. The moss is a light gray-green and falls like it has a perm (soft gentle waves); the stringers fall inches to feet from branches. I guess this speaks to the moisture in the air (course the bugs do that too). There are also palm trees and we’re in the midst of enormous citrus groves. The grass in hardy, thick, and its blades are wider than any I’ve ever seen (people park their cars on it with no adverse impact).
People leave fruit for us volunteers which is placed in the laundry room. So far, there have been tangerines, grapefruit, oranges, and star fruit left; we understand that at least some of the donations come from hunters who have orchards at home. Although the citrus is great, the produce, so far, leaves something to be desired. We stopped at a local produce stand yesterday run by a Mexican family (it was spotless and the young woman was going around polishing the fruit & vegetables that could be polished—apples, peppers, tomatoes, etc.); I saw the biggest avocados I’ve ever seen in my life and bought one (the pit was the size of a tangerine). They also had “key limes”; now, I knew there was key lime pie, but I thought it was made from regular limes and that maybe it had originated in the Florida Keys; not so! They are made from key limes—tiny, light yellow limes.
So much for plants and fruits. THE most fantastic sights are the birds. Now, we’re not talking ordinary birds here, we’re talking BIG, beautiful birds. So far (and just about every day), we’ve seen sandhill cranes, great & small egrets (white), lots of white ibis, bitterns, limpkins, great & little blue herons, turkey vultures (they live in the trees across the street from the main gate), pelicans, wood storks, kingfishers, hawks, anhingas (these are really funny—they swim like fish and spear their prey, but their wings don’t contain oil, so, after a catch, you’ll see them perched on a post with their wings extended so they can dry), etc., etc. We’re not that bird-smart by the way—we’ve been making good use of the National Audubon Society’s Field Guide to North American Birds for the Eastern Region. However, there’s some we can’t find in the guide, so I’m looking for a book that just covers Florida birds. In any event, God’s creation is so awesome, and we are absolutely captivated by it all. I picked up a brochure on the types of birds in this area; the brochure lists a total of 74 types of birds living in this area year-round, another 9 arriving in the spring/summer, and 27 more each in the fall and winter. The size and variety, and colors are mind-boggling.
(Dave) And this is a shot of a great egret that lives nearby. The most magnificent bird we've seen (so far) is the wood stork. Wing span of 5.5 feet, stands nearly 4.5 feet tall, and has distinctive black markings on the wing tips, but is pure white otherwise. Haven't managed to capture one with the camera yet, but we will.
(Barb) Animals: The first thing we saw as we drove through the main gate was a raccoon; then we drove in the driveway to our campsite and saw an armadillo (funny animals); this one apparently lives here as we’ve seen it several times now. I have not seen any alligators though I thought I might have seen a pair of beady eyeballs sitting on the water a few days ago. We are warned about alligators everywhere, and I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before we see some full-length ones.
Insects: Brother, do insects abound here! We’ve all got bites. The mosquitoes still love me (they always have), but never bothered Dave much at all. However, Dave is feeling the effects of fire ant bites on his feet—he’s decided to give up wearing sandals outside in favor or socks & shoes, much as he hates to do that; they haven’t bit me yet—though they may have and I just think it’s another mosquito bite. He’s got half a dozen bites now and doesn’t want any more. We’ve both experienced almost swallowing bugs that have landed in our water glasses; so, when we meet again and you see us looking in our glasses before we drink, you’ll know why. It’s a habit we’ve developed. Also, insects seem to have a daily gathering at 6 p.m. (it was 7 p.m.before we set our clocks back); we all know that we need to get into our rigs at that time or we’ll get eaten alive; it lasts for about an hour, then we can go out again. It’s kind of fascinating. There are a million varieties of butterflies—now we need to get a book on butterflies! And, dragonflies abound too; they are big (the good guys that eat the other insects, so they’re nice and large). Dave mistook one for a bat while standing on the dock a couple of nights ago, but we all pooh-poohed him and agreed that it was just a large dragonfly (though bats were indeed seen later on).
The climate, birds, animals, etc. are all so foreign to what we’ve experienced in the past. We are so blessed to be able to spend this time here, and we are grateful.
We are about 90 miles from Orlando, Disney World. We recently bought a season’s pass to Cypress Gardens (which is only about 30 miles from us); it’s either $30 per entry or $60 for a season. They not only have fabulous flower gardens (which we’ve been told about and not yet seen), but they have lots of other activities such as concerts, ski competitions, boat shows, Christmas lights, spring lights, etc., even a “Romance Month” (you guessed it—February) where you “walk through winding paths of the botanical gardens . . . or . . . alongside the stunning bougainvillea” (don’t know what bougainvillea is, but I think I’ll find out!). All these are accessible with a single season’s pass, which we intend to take advantage of. We’re thinking about doing the same thing for Sea World, but those passes are $80 each; heck, if we go there just twice the pass is paid for. We’ll be looking into other things too like Epcot Center, Magic Kingdom (for kids mostly), Universal Studios, MGM, etc. Too many things to do, but we should be able to hit most of them between now and the end of April.