One of the things Tom and I really enjoy about volunteering all over is the people we get to meet and work with.  This season we have met Pat Muse and Trish Taylor, two volunteers working as campground hosts for Cumberland Gap National Historical Park.  Pat calls them the two Pats and always introduces them that way.  But Trish (her full name is Patricia) prefers to be called Trish.  She goes along with “the Pats” because it is cute, catchy, and memorable.

Even though Pat and Trish are the same age as Tom and me, they are newlyweds and haven’t been volunteering in the parks very long.  In fact, this is their first National Park site job.  They arrived in May, just shortly before we did.  If we were living in the campground, we would probably see them every day.  But, because we volunteer in different areas and live in different places, we usually see them about once a week.

Trish is still working remotely.  When she said she was retiring in order to travel, her employer offered to cut her hours and let her work remotely.  So far it has been working out but they have also been careful to volunteer at places that have internet and cell service.

Both Pat and Trish are very outgoing.  They love to be with other people and enjoy building relationships.  They help regularly with the cave tours.  Pat has been learning how to blacksmith and he often joins Tom on Metallurgy Mondays.  They both help out with special events.

Pat and Trish also love being outdoors.  They are very fit and active and make Tom and I feel like slackers in the energy department.  After they have worked outside all day, they head over to CrossFit to work out for an hour.

In addition to being great volunteers and hard workers, Pat and Trish have the gift of hospitality.  They invited us over for supper one night and another night we joined them for a game.  They invited all the interp staff over for a spaghetti dinner one night, which was a lot of fun.  Pat and Trish have been trying to build community, but sometimes it can be hard with a full work day and different days off.

Pat and Trish are not full-time RVers.  In addition to their very nice travel trailer, they have three houses:  one that he owned, one that she owned, and one that they bought together after they got married.  That’s a lot to take care of!  Especially when they are living in their RV most of the year.  They also have a dog named Josie who is a mix of standard poodle and wheaten terrier.

Tom and I really enjoy being with Pat and Trish.  We hope to get a few more game nights in before they head out in August.  You can never have too many friends on the road.