RVing With a Purpose

Sunday, January 17, 2021

Friday was a day of rest, errands and chores.  We went to the produce stand again for fresh fruit and mango jam and then decided to explore a little and went to the Lehigh Acres Publix instead of the one on our route to ECHO.  It was a larger store and didn’t seem so crowded – a relief. We still aren’t comfortable in crowded stores.  Totally unexpected, we drove by a Culver’s, so of course we stopped for ice cream, so it was a good day.   Saturday we rested some more and went back to the Caloosahatchee Regional Park for our exercise.  We looked at some different places to go but Caloosahatchee is just so convenient and the flora and fauna in the other parks in the area is about the same.  We reversed our track from last week and so of course saw some different plants and trees.  Funny how just walking the opposite direction does that.

Today was a grey, chilly day.  We of course began with our worship service.  We continue to be grateful for our connection to home through our weekly worship.  This afternoon we headed to another LaBelle park and went by way of the Fort Denaud swing bridge across the Okeechobee waterway.  This bridge swings open 90 degrees rather than opening upwards like a drawbridge.  You don’t see this type bridge as often.  Even more different, the bridge tender is in a small concrete building at the side of one end of the bridge.  When a boat wants to go through, the tender presses the button sending the arms down stopping traffic.  When all the traffic as off the bridge, the tender then walks to the halfway point of the bridge, presses the buttons to swing the bridge 90 degrees (the tender rides the swing).  When the vessels have passed, the tender closes the bridge, walks back to the tender building, raises the arms allowing traffic to pass again.  Guess the tender gets lots of steps every day.  Lucky the weather is generally nice.  Wonder what happens when there are storms.

After returning from our little afternoon road trip, the team met at the sling shot range and all shot rocks at hanging cans.  They also have an archery range here – some of the many activities for the kids at summer camp.  We were planning a little competition but decided we were all such bad shots it really wouldn’t be worthwhile.  After playing for a while we had a fire at the swings by the river.  It was a nice socially distanced get together for our last weekend.  Now it’s time to get ready for our last four days of work.

Friday, January 15, 2021

The team continued to work on the structure for the bamboo pressure treatment area, the foot bridge at the gift shop, and added another task of demoing and rebuilding a wall/fence for a storage shed near one of the gardens.  We all  moved around working in the different areas and got a lot done.  Wanda and Janet got the fence/wall demoed and began the rebuilding process Thursday afternoon.

All the large beams are now in place for the BPTA.  Each of the beams are two 2x12s laminated together and 18 feet long.  We have no idea what they weigh but they are very heavy.  The facilities staff used their tractor and brought in some extra help from other departments to help us get them in place.  It all had to be carefully orchestrated to keep everyone safe and we are very thankful to be able to say there were no injuries to NOMADS or staff at ECHO.

The foot bridge has had all the structural members replaced or reinforced and now has a firm foundation.  The deck boards are about 2/3 complete.  Everything is looking good and progress is being made.

The slab for the seed dryer is scheduled to be poured Wednesday.  We have four more days to make as much progress as we can.  We pray that we will be able to complete what the Lord has planned for us to accomplish and the rest will be for another group arriving next month to complete.  It was another successful, busy week.

Monday, January 11, 2021

Sunday morning we were surprised to get up to a temperature of 36 and heavy frost but today we loved that we were back to a low of 53.  Love that southwest Florida has only a day or two of winter.  So we have had our day and now we can get back to an early spring with pretty flowers and fresh strawberries.

It was another beautiful day for us to head back to work.  We had devotion with the staff at ECHO again today and then Max, Anne, Karen, Ken and Vi went back to the bamboo pressure treatment area.  Now that the footings are in place and the concrete cured, we began working on reinstalling the French drain that we worked so hard to remove last week.  We then covered the trench with stone.  After that we began working on putting together the scaffolding (we are missing a few parts.) and preparing to install the ledger board.  The board is ready and holes are drilled.  Tomorrow morning with some help/strength from the rest of the team we will get it installed.

Gregg, Kevin, Suzan, Wanda and Janet spent their day working on the bridge in front of the gift shop.  They removed the wooden deck boards, and assessed the structure.  It is in need of a few repairs prior to the installation of the new Trex deck boards.  (Thanks, Suzan for the photos.)

Sunday, January 10, 2021

We needed to rest Friday after the physical week of work, so rest we did.  We also did some laundry and bought groceries.  The fresh local strawberries are in so we had angel food cake with fresh strawberries and whip cream for Max’s birthday.  (We waited for the weekend to celebrate.)  That night we enjoyed another Zoom meeting with Anne’s family.

Saturday we used All Trails app to find some local hiking.  Number one on the list was the park we drive by on the way to work every day – Caloosahatchee Regional Park.  The park is about 770 acres along the Caloosahatchee river and through mangrove areas and subtropical habitat with hiking trails as well as separate dirt bike trails and equestrian trails.  There are primitive camping sites but unfortunately no RV parking.  Beautiful, peaceful park and not crowded. We would definitely recommend it.

Today, was another beautiful sunny day but started with a heavy frost and a temperature of 36.  We failed to check the forecast last night were a little surprised when we had to turn the furnace on this morning.  Guess that is what happens when you become accustomed to always having moderate temperatures and don’t think about it changing.  We of course enjoyed worshiping online with our home church this morning and then had a quiet day at the RV park, resting and taking care of some mail and paperwork.  It was a very nice weekend.