A couple of years before I started writing this blog I wrote a journal to document my travels as a fulltimer. I’m glad I did. It wasn’t the first journal I wrote. I have a journal of my trip to Alaska in 2004, and a few other short ones about birds and camping that I did while I was still working.
A few days ago, I went back in my journal to read about my time spent volunteering at Pea Island and Alligator River NWRs back in the summer of 2007. I didn’t write daily in the journal, but I sure enjoyed my observations from five years ago. Since I was the only one reading it, I included everything good and bad about that experience. Over all, I had a good time there with some wonderful memories. I’ll be heading back there in a couple of weeks, so it was a good time to review things.
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I started out staying at the volunteer site on Pea Island. I had a view out my front window of the ocean.
Being right on the ocean was something I always wanted to do. I walked the beach daily and collected shells. On the down side, there were the mosquitoes and salt spray on the rig.
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After a month, I moved over to Alligator River NWR, and this was the view out my front window. The reason I moved was because I had no cell phone or internet reception on Pea Island.
No ocean view, but black bears, wolves, and bobcats surrounded me. On the down side, I spent some time up close and personal with chiggers. Ugh!
On Tuesday, I emailed Abbey, the volunteer coordinator for both refuges, and asked if I could arrive just after the middle of the month instead of the first of August. I’m ready to start volunteering again, but didn’t know if a site would be available for me.
She replied to me today to say that there were a couple of sites available for my arrival around the 18th of the month. I hope you can enlarge this map to see my choices. The arrow on the left is Alligator River. The one on the bottom right is Pea Island which I don’t think is available. The one in the middle is Bodie Island Light House that is a part of the Hatteras Island National Seashore. Abbey said that the Bodie Island site is beautiful, and that the National Park Service has offered a site for a volunteer there. She also said there is good cell phone reception there.
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I guess I’ll decide once I get there. The Bodie Island site is a lot closer to the Visitor’s Center where I’ll be working on Pea Island, and gives me the option of experiencing a barrier island coast once again. Perhaps I’ll split my time between both locations. I’m getting excited about getting back in the saddle again, smelling the salty air, and having a purpose for getting up in the morning. Does it come down to a choice between mosquitoes and chiggers?? Hmm…
Yes, I do go back and read old posts or journal entries. How about you?
Thanks for stopping by… talk to you later, Judy
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I love going back to read my old posts. Especially if we're going to be anywhere in that area again. Also if I want to remember anything since I can't remember all on my own anymore.
ReplyDeleteMe too! I rely on my blog and my journals to remind me of who/what/when/where. The journal often helps me out with the blog as well. I also always go back if I'm going to be somewhere again. The one thing I lOVE about the blog that I can't do with the journal is SEARCH.
ReplyDeleteI do, sometimes. Usually it's when an old post has gotten a flurry of new hits, and I wonder what the heck did I say there?
ReplyDeleteI, too go back and look at my old posts...nice to read about all the old adventures..see the pictures..blogging is an evolution of sorts..the style changes..as do the thought processes!
ReplyDeleteI'll have to do that, I rarely go back. Maybe I should start at the beginning and see how lucky we've been to get on the road full time.
ReplyDeleteI read old posts to remember where we stayed, what we did and how we like them...I didn't start blogging until Dec 2009, so I don't have tons of old posts...Looks like a nice spot you are heading for...
ReplyDeleteI have reread our blog posts just to refresh my memory on where we stayed or what we did. Since we left Mission, TX, the first of March and have been on a tear across the country, I go back a ton to refresh my memory on what we saw where. So many of our last couple months' adventures are running together for me. Can't wait till be slow down.
ReplyDeleteNope, very rare for me to go back & read something I have written.
ReplyDeleteBodie Island sounds wonderful! I do re-read my writings/bloggings for the perspective.
ReplyDeleteYes, I do read my old posts!! In fact I found a way to get them published in book form. The book of old blogs will be a blog topics one of these days. I vote for Ocean view.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the rest of the week!
I sometimes go back to re-read the blog and journals I kept while backpacking and while living in Ireland. Sometimes I can hardly believe what I've been able to do.
ReplyDeleteMany times I need to refer back to a past blog post when commenting on something on my yahoo groups (either a Safari one or a weaving one) So I put a "search box" on my side panel of wigits tools to do that.
ReplyDeleteOther times I like to read back about a certain campground or campsite so if we go to that same park, we try to get it if it's a favorite.
As soon as we become fulltimers next month, I think I will have to change the titles of my posts. Right now they start with capital letters of CAMPING ... we will be full-timing so I guess I will think up a new way to name my posts?
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Karen and Steve
(Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com
I LIKE TO GO BACK AND SEE WHAT I WAS DOING OR THINKING AT A CERTAIN TIME & PLACE. tHAT IS WHAT THE BLOG IS FOR.
ReplyDeleteI do go back and read my posts and sometimes search other blogs, too. I did this a lot at the one year anniversary of my blog. I was thinking of printing a blog book once a year, but don't know if its worth the expense. For your volunteer site, I like the site close to the lighthouse.
ReplyDeleteI vote for the ocean view site! Love to hear the waves & walk on the sand & in the water. A nice swim sometimes, but here in FL we've had so many shark bites, it's not as much fun as it used to be. They come right up in ankle deep water here, guess their food supply is dwindling & they chase the fish in & get a bite out of a person. That salt water spray really can mess up a paint job. Don't know if waxing helps that or not? I'm sure you give Emma heartworm medicine, just incase she's bitten by infected mosquitos. A blog would make a great journal to go back & read about things I seem to be forgetting more & more. We call it Sometimers! Tom & Lynn
ReplyDeleteAt the end of each year, I use Blog2Print to make a softcover copy of my blogging year. When it arrives, I read the whole thing!
ReplyDeleteYes! That's why I write the blog in the first place :) My memory is shot so rereading what I wrote is a good memory refresher for me!
ReplyDeleteOn occasion I'll go back and read old blogs especially when folks I know are visiting a place we've been to. I like to compare what we saw with what they're doing as that's always fun.
ReplyDeleteI have only gone back to use a recipe or two that I knew I had posted. Maybe i will start to look back when I've had more adventures. I'm sure I will go back and look at the Crater Lake pictures. It is the most beautiful place I have ever been.
ReplyDeleteI mostly go back and read old posts when I'm thinking about linking to one for some reason. I don't often go back because I hate finding a typo and knowing it has been out there all this time. But, it is fun reading about previous experiences and seeing how my perspective has changed.
ReplyDeleteYa. My memory is starting to get a little dim, so I do go back and check on what we might have been doing on a particular date.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I cringe at some of the cr*p I wrote, but it is what it is.
I don't think I'd print any of it out though. Waste of paper.
I've only been blogging 6 months so don't have much to go back to. BUT... we keep an "At A Glance" spiral bound calendar and I write down daily mileage, hours worked, where we're at, stuff like that. I've done that since Day One of our travels and so now we're on our 12th book. And yes, I do carry all of them with us as they are a great reference for things.... especially if I think to write down the names of people we meet. Sure comes in handy if we meet up with them a couple years down the road and I can't remember their names ;-)
ReplyDeleteLooks like a beautiful place. I have not really gone back to read old blogs yet but I am sure I will.
ReplyDeleteI react violently to chiggers, so I'd go for the mosquitoes. Love the Outer Banks.
ReplyDeleteI do go back and re-read the posts....especially about my dad. Then I read all the comments again from everyone and I can feel the love that every one shared with me at the time. It is nice..
ReplyDeleteOh, I want the barrier island spot!!! I bet it is beautiful! I went back and looked for something in my blog the other day and read some of the old, beginning posts--I enjoyed the visit back in time!
ReplyDeleteI'd love to be at Bodie Island....such a peaceful, relaxing place to be. I am sure you will choose the best location / locations.
ReplyDeleteWe not only read them, we are going back and printing them out. Currently have about four feet of shelf space devoted to 3" binders, and making room for more. Very enjoyable to go back and revisit our own trips.
ReplyDeleteWhen I started back in 2007 I kept a journal even though I had a lap top. I kept that going until I sold Mom's Littel Run Away this April. I like going back and reading the excitement I felt doing what I missed so much. When I get back in the fall I will hunt for something to buy and get back to it. And yes I do read back on my blog too.
ReplyDeleteI want to be parked by the Light House.
Your post makes me just a little sad. (Nothing you did friend, it's what I did). I started keeping a daily journal in 1992. Each year I would put that book on the shelf and start a new one. I wrote about everything - good and bad. In 2009 when we packed up to start fulltiming I packed the journals in a box. One morning Leonard was going to the recycling center. On a spur of the moment decision I told him to take the journals. WHERE WAS MY HEAD! By that afternoon I was sorry. Too late. I've regretted it ever since and think of those journals often.
ReplyDeleteThose journals are the only things I regret getting rid of. 17 years of a written family history in the trash!
I would take mosquitoes over chiggers any day...chiggers are evil spawn put on this earth to make my life miserable. I have actual scars on my feet and ankles from a bad day hiking a few years ago. Chiggers, I shiver at the very word!
ReplyDeleteTeri is our "official" blogger and calendar-keeper, as she is much more organized than I. We do go back and re-read the blog. It is a great way to remember places we've been and things that we've done. Teri also keeps a detailed "Year-at-a-glance" calendar that fills in the day-to-day activities not reflected in the blog.
ReplyDeleteThat lighthouse site looks like a keeper. Chiggers vs. mosquitoes is not much of a choice, but I suppose almost every location has a pest or two to keep us on our toes.
Mark
I do go back and read old posts especially when I need to remember something about an area for a return trip or if someone asks me about a place we have been. The blog is a good record for this old brain. :) Looking forward to you posts about this next volunteer stint.
ReplyDeleteI'd go for the mosquitoes and than get rid of them by using a 'ThermaCELL'. They're on sale at Walmart for $20 and the refills for $7 or 4 for $20. Hunters use them in the field when they dress their kill. We use it at the moment in Alaska where as you know the mosquito is the 'State Bird'! And it works! As long as it doesn't rain or if there's too much wind but than you also don't have too many mosquitoes.
ReplyDeleteJust turn it on 10 minutes before you go sit outsite and you're bug free!
And yes, I do go back and read my old blogs too.
Some of my pics came out real nice and I love to look at them again.
Oh, I can't wait to read all your posts from your new volunteer spot. We visited the Bodie Lighthouse last summer. . .but it was being renovated, so we couldn't climb it. . .just beautiful though. . .enjoy!
ReplyDeleteJanice
ReadyToGoFullTimeRVing.blogspot.com
I absolutely go back and read my posts. This is one of the two primary reasons why I write my blogs ... to document the trip while I can still remember the details, and to re-live the experience when the trip is a dim memory. I'm looking forward to some great virtual trips when I'm too old and decrepit to travel for real :-)))
ReplyDelete