When we last posted, we were still in South Carolina, still visiting with Randy and Debra. We still walked at least 10,000 steps every day and on Sunday 3/23 we did another new to us hike. This one was in Augusta, GA at the Phinizy Swamp and Nature Park. It is a very unique and fun place to hike and all the better entry is free. While you might not be excited to visit a place with swamp in its name Phinizy actually has some pretty amazing hiking paths through some beautiful wetlands. We saw all kinds of critters including some very small and very big alligators, beautiful birds and one of the largest snapping turtles we have ever seen. The park was built by the Augusta wastewater treatment system and the treated waste water is now sent through the constructed wetlands system before being released into Savannah River. It was a great place to spend a beautiful Sunday afternoon.
Some of the scenery in the park
We saw several baby gators …
… and a mama keeping close eye on them.
We sat for a while beside one of the ponds watching ospreys…
… great egrets…
and anhingas.
The remainder of that week was spent preparing to hit the road again. We left Johnston Saturday, and spent the night in Oneonta in our church’s parking lot. We got to worship at Lester Memorial Sunday and attend our Sunday School class. It was so great to be back at our home church. From Oneonta we drove Fred to Red Bay to get a slide repaired and new tires installed. With everything completed, we left Red Bay Friday afternoon just in time to avoid some severe thunderstorms. We are now back at Camp Sumatanga helping the staff prepare for summer camping season.
Bob Tiffin Service Center
Another easy visit to Red Bay
We got to visit with Bob a couple of times this visit.
Last weekend we did laundry, rested, and bought groceries. There was lots of rain on Saturday and Sunday, so we were inside most of the time. There was even water over the road when we drove to church. When it wasn’t raining, we explored the portions of the camp we didn’t visit during the work week. We didn’t know there were high and low ropes courses and a BB gun shooting range. We also found our way down to the river where in better weather we would have loved to be canoeing. Unfortunately, the heavy rains had the water too high and fast to consider that possibility.
The road into the camp on Sunday
Our campsites after the rain
We began the work week with our team splitting up with Max, Anne, Shannon and Mariel continuing to work on the flooring in the pavilion while Gabriela, Lou, Dennis and Pam worked at the dining hall preparing the exterior for painting. Lou also worked on the tractor. The flooring was completed Monday with the exception of a small path leading to one bathroom. The concrete we had to pour to level the bathroom needed more cure time and the team will finish that up during Week 3.
Anne painting around the walls so we could roll the rest of the floor
Mariel scattering color flakes
The painted floor at the end of Monday
On Monday the camp also had someone cut down a couple of large dead trees that were a danger to a couple of cabins, so on Tuesday NOMADS did all the clean-up/removal of all the debris/limbs.
The two trees that were taken down
One of several loads of limbs
It took a while with this saw (just kidding)
Wednesday and Thursday we all worked on the dining hall. There was some damaged wood to be repaired, gutters to be removed, lots of cleaning and scraping, and then lots of painting. By Thursday afternoon all the repairs had been completed and the first coat of paint had been completed. A special thank you to the camp board members and church members who provided some wonderful Louisiana meals this week.
Lou and Gabriela cleaning window trim
Dennis and Pam getting the front wall ready for painting
Lou painting a door
Mariel painting trim
Gabriela painting the grooves in the siding
Anne cutting in for the paint rollers
Shannon rolling a wall
Dennis and Pam spent a lot of time on the back of the building
See how much better it looked at the end of the week
The last of the trim getting its first coat of paint
The walls and trim at the end of the week
Friday morning at 6:00 am, we turned Fred back in the direction of South Carolina. We hated to leave the NOMADS team and Uskichitto Retreat Center, but were thankful for the two weeks we were able to contribute to the project. We were especially glad to reconnect with Mariel, Shannon, Dennis and Pam, and to meet Gabriela and Lou. It was a really good two weeks.
Another delicious meal provided by friends of the camp. This is pastalaya.
Pam made four flavors of ice cream for the team so we had an ice cream dinner Tuesday evening.
It was all delicious
Our team. Notice how much better the wall behind us looks.
We made it back to Randy and Debra’s home early Saturday afternoon and we will spend the next few weeks with them except for a quick run to Florida and Alabama. Randy who is doing much better will be having some same day surgery Thursday so please continue to keep him in your prayers.
When we last posted, we had just arrived at Uskichitto Retreat Center (pronounced “Whiskey Chitto”) in LeBlanc, LA. The retreat center has five cabins to house campers for summer camp season. The cabins are also used during the off season by businesses, clubs and church groups for weekend retreats, meetings and work sessions. We have full hookup camp sites and laundry facilities. This a three week NOMADS project, but we will only be working the first two weeks. Mariel and Shannon are our leaders. It’s so good to work with them again. We haven’t seen them since the annual meeting last year. We have team members, Pam and Dennis who we worked with at Camp Sumatanga last year and Lou and Gabriela who we just met. They are relatively new members from Iowa.
There is lots of work to be done at the camp, but our highest priority is replacing the flooring at the pavilion. Monday morning it was all hands-on deck to empty out the pavilion of all the sound equipment, furniture, etc. and remove the toilets and sinks from the restrooms and store everything in a nearby building. That done, we began using various tools to remove the old flooring. Most of the tile actually came up fairly easily. It was all the glue that remained on the floor that was the problem. The camp director rented us a machine that made the job easier but there was still lots of time spent on our knees scraping. It was decided that we would be using epoxy paint with color chips to replace the old tile. After scraping all the old glue up there was dust and dirt everywhere. Then, we began the process of cleaning the concrete mopping numerous times to get it clean. With that huge job completed, Thursday afternoon we etched the concrete and then mopped the concrete until clean again. The mop water had to be clear. That’s where we left it for the weekend.
Mariel removing baseboards
Removing one of the toilets
One of the sinks being removed.
The power scraper motor quit after about an hour of work. Fortunately the tile was loose enough to scrape up manually.
Mariel “helping” Dennis with the power grinder
Our tools of the trade for most of the week
We spend a lot of time team mopping.
Official mop cleaner
The floor before we started
At the end of the week
How we had fun all week
When there was a little down time throughout the week, a few of us were able to complete some smaller projects, the repair of some leaky faucets, replacement of some steps, repair of a “soft” spot in a bathroom and window cleaning in the cafeteria. We worked hard this week and we were rewarded with a fantastic Cajun meal Thursday night prepared by some of the ladies from Squryes UMC. The weekend will bring rest, laundry and perhaps some sight seeing.
It took a while to repair the leak in this shower.
The soft spot that had to be repaired
Lou repairing a picnic table while all the mops were occupied.
Delicious Thursday night gumbo dinner
There are many crawfish mounds around the grounds, but we didn’t try to catch any bugs …
… however, Mariel did rescue this cute chameleon from he dining room.
We returned to the US from Antarctica on Tuesday, January 29. We made the drive back to South Carolina and pretty much just collapsed. So very thankful for our sweet Debra who fed us the next few days while we recouped, washed clothes and reorganized everything in Fred. After about 3 nights of sleep we felt like we were back among the living. We still aren’t caught up on everything but we rarely are. The great news is that Randy is feeling better and once we had rested, we were able to help him and Debra with cutting down some additional trees.
Lots of chainsaw work the few days we were in SC
We took down several more trees that were too close to the buildings.
February 6 the four of us visited Congaree National Park. It’s the only National Park in South Carolina and none of us had ever visited. It’s located close to Columbia and is basically a day use park with no RV parking or camping. Congaree has the largest intact expanse of old growth bottomland hardwood forest remaining in the southeastern US. There are some really huge trees in the park. There are several nice hiking trails. We chose the boardwalk trail and enjoyed our time in the park. Interesting how we travel such distances and sometimes miss gems so close to home. Congaree is a little known gem. We would recommend a visit.
The boardwalk through the park
Much of the area is covered by cypress trees
Congaree NP is home to several champion trees
Pileated Woodpecker in the park
Over the next few days, we spent most of our time preparing Fred and ourselves for our next NOMADS project. We departed SC on Valentine’s Day in route to LeBlanc, Louisianna. We stopped in Atmore, AL to do some shopping at Warehouse Market and Bakery. It’s one of our favorite Amish stores and we stocked up on some goodies. (Recommend a stop if you are driving by Exit 54 on I-65 in Alabama.) We will enjoy them while we are working at Uskichitto Retreat Center helping them make some repairs to their facilities and prepare for camping season.
In addition to delicious baked goods, Warehouse Market and Bakery has many varieties of products that you don’t usually find at grocery stores.
Some of our goodies from the Amish store. The Conecuh rolls are sections of Conecuh sausage wrapped in a light dough and baked. We buy them by the dozen and freeze them.
Back in Louisiana for another project
Driving across Louisiana again
Where we will be volunteering the next couple of weeks.
RVing With a Purpose 