I'm not out of the game yet!

I have been miserable all day, mostly because my eye doesn't seem to me to be getting better by the day. The clarity of sight comes and goes, and is never really all that good. I certainly shouldn't drive a vehicle, and I'm damn sick of just laying around doing nothing. But I know I should give it another week or so before I accept that it won't get better.

Meanwhile, I have been thinking about how I want to travel and to go camping in the future. I have been looking at tents and how I could use one, both for the trip(s) to NY as well as occasional weekend and longer trips in the West. I feel very comfortable with the idea of a tent, because I am more of a camper at heart than an RVer. But I've also looked at mini trailers - the teardrop shape campers have fascinated me long before I even thought of full time RVing. Now I find that the teardrop shape is extended and grown into a mini trailer, such as the T@B, and the T@DA. They are nice because they have basic kitchen facilities inside the trailer.

The truck campers are also intriguing, but with their popularity has come the addition of slide-outs, full bathrooms with showers, and amenities that drive their price up to and sometimes above what a new larger trailer and/or 5th wheel costs. Meanwhile, I have to sell the rig I have (lordy, how I will miss that truck if it goes along with the 5ver).

I received an email a few days ago from my former boss at Lassen - just an update and asking how I was - and at the same time mentioned they didn't have a camp host for Butte Lake this summer. It seems no one wants to be without electric hookups. While I love electric hookups, I think I did very nicely for three months without it, once I got my generator going.

I wrote and told her I might be interested in a shorter commitment, such as 6 weeks from 1 July through 15 August. I need to be back in Sacramento for the birth of my newest grandson around the 1st of September, and then will take off for New York to visit my family there somewhere around the middle of Sept. I would like to close out my storage in Asheville on the way back, although I haven't figured out how I can bring everything back if I am pulling something behind my vehicle to begin with. I only need a small U-haul, but what I have wouldn't fit into the sort of travel trailer I am envisioning. If I end up with a tent, it might not be a problem though.

I just received another email from the volunteer coordinator offering me the job for six weeks. It will be at the most critical time for the park - over 4th of July and throughout the month, and the first half of August.

So here I sit, barely able to see clearly, and I am planning to return to the backcountry of Lassen Volcanic National Park. I've decided that if my 5ver sells within the next two months I will have to find something to live in at Lassen, and if it doesn't sell then I will just haul it back to its old stomping grounds!

I must be crazy, but my mood has lightened considerably. Now I need to respond affirmatively to the email, and hope I get decent eyesight back in a week or so. My favorite part of RVing has always been the ability to volunteer in the national park system. It gives me a reason to look forward to getting up in the morning, something meaningful to do, makes me feel needed, and is overall good for my self esteem. As I told one of my kids, that is no small thing to a person at my state in life, and especially one without a partner.

Gypsy will be on the road again!!!