My name is Karen Hartley and I am a retired United Methodist Minister, who grew up and served churches in Ohio. My husband, Tom, is an Electrical and Computer Engineering Emeritus Professor from the University of Akron. When my husband and I retired in 2014, we sold EVERYTHING and moved into a 35 foot long New Horizons Fifth Wheel RV. We are now full-time Volunteers with the National Park Service. We work for three to four months in a park and then move on to another park. We get to live in the National Parks with our RV spot and full hook-ups provided in exchange for 32 hours of work per week. In between gigs in the National Parks, we usually head back home to see friends and family in Ohio.
The National Parks have many different areas of service for volunteers. Tom and I enjoy doing Living History, where we dress up in an historical outfit and connect visitors with the era of history represented by our park. We have done Living History in Death Valley National Park, Kings Mountain National Military Park, Grand Portage National Monument, Fort Frederica National Monument, and San Juan Island National Historical Park. Each park focuses on a different moment in history and we love learning the new things about each park. We are staying physically and mentally active in our retirement.
I like to knit, read, and eat. You will find categories in the blog on each of these interests. I also like to explore new places, especially the National Parks. Most of my posts are about visits to or working in different National Park sites. After preaching every week for 30 years, I continue to talk about faith and the churches we visit in the Worship Experiences category. Our Map shows our travels year by year. Each dot represents a blog post about that spot.
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