Last week I wrote about our ice storm and this week I will describe cleaning up after the ice storm.  The ice storm happened on Wednesday, January 22.  Wednesday we weren’t allowed to do anything because of safety issues.  Thursday the safety officer, Ranger Chad, and Ranger Margot did a safety assessment.  Then Ranger Margot …

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On January 22, St. Simons Island was hit by an ice and snow storm.  Most of the country has been in the deep freeze, including the south.  Temperatures all month have been the coldest we have ever experienced in our eight seasons on the island.  I know it has been super cold in Ohio as …

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Last week the Wesley College Ministry from the University of Arkansas came to do a service project at Fort Frederica.  The University of Arkansas is one large university with many different campuses scattered throughout the state.  Each one has a Wesley College Ministry group to reach out to the college students.  Usually the campus ministers …

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Tom I are back at Fort Frederica National Monument for an eighth season.  Our return to Fort Frederica was up in the air for a long time this year.  We had not planned on returning in 2025.  I was ready for a winter change, and we were confident we would be volunteering at De Soto …

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As a final stop before going home, Tom and I headed to Big Bone Lick State Park in Kentucky.  This was the final campout of the season arranged by Sandy Shaw and the first that any of us were doing without her.  We arranged with Eric Shaw, and Steve and Amy Winstead, to join them …

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The last national park site we visited on this trip was Lincoln Boyhood National Memorial in Lincoln City, Indiana.  Abraham Lincoln lived on this farm along Pigeon Creek from the time he was 7, in 1816, until 1830 when the family moved to Illinois.  The years at the homestead along Pigeon Creek were instrumental in …

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Tom and I headed for George Rogers Clark National Historical Park in Vincennes, Indiana the day after hitting the Missouri parks along the Mississippi River.  Tom was especially interested in going there because it is a revolutionary war park.  He had also heard that they did living history there and thought it might be a …

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St Genevieve National Historical Park is one of the newer national park sites, established in 2018.  It is located just down the Mississippi River from St. Louis, so Tom and I decided to check it out.  It was not our intention to see it on the same day as Lincoln’s Home, Gateway Arch, and Ulysses …

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After our brief stop at Gateway Arch, Tom and I traveled the ten miles to Ulysses S Grant National Historic Site.  Ulysses Grant was born in Ohio to abolitionist parents, but he fell in love with his best friend’s sister when he was stationed in Missouri.  The National Historic Site preserves the home of his …

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When people complain about places that are designated National Parks and shouldn’t be, one of the top places on their list is Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis, Missouri.  Gateway Arch is not one of those spectacular natural areas like Grand Canyon.  It is also not a place where history is preserved like Boston …

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