Traveling Square Dancers: Our Second Month this Summer at McCormick’s Creek

Who We Are

We sold our home in June, 2007, and spent the next 7 1/2 years traveling full time in a Cross Roads Fifth Wheel. (We had been traveling during our summers for several years before going full time.) We loved the full-time lifestyle! Each summer we spent a month or two volunteering in State Parks, first in Indiana at McCormick's Creek State Park, near our family, then in later years as the grandchildren got older, at the Bluewater Lake State Park in New Mexico. We spent 6 months each winter at Cactus Gardens RV Resort in Yuma, AZ, where I worked mornings in the park office. The remaining months were spent on the road, seeing this great country of ours. Our favorite places are our National Parks. Anita loved photography and the freedom of digital photography, taking sometimes hundreds of photos in a day. We hiked as much as our legs will allow. We also really enjoyed square and round dancing as we travel across country, and meeting all the wonderful people who dance and/or travel.

But as in all things, there comes a time for change, and we decided it was time to create roots once more. In the fall of 2014, we purchased a home in Cactus Gardens, and in the spring of 2015, sold the 5th wheel. Anita also retired in the spring. We will continue to travel each summer, but for a shorter period of time. We hope to continue blogging about those trips, but it will obviously be on a more limited basis than in the past.

Please explore our past posts if you are interested in traveling this great country. You'll find an index in the left column. We hope you enjoy our blog, and appreciate all comments

Monday, August 15, 2011

Our Second Month this Summer at McCormick’s Creek

The first weekend back at the park was a busy time.

A Tear Jerkers Rally was set for the weekend. Teardrop trailers are tiny RVs that look like a teardrop laid on its side. The Tear Jerkers have an open policy, allowing anyone with a small RV to join. Most of the sites in Loop A (where we were located) were rented for the rally. 27 states, plus Canada, were represented. There were all sizes, shapes and colors from expensive toys to homemade ones. I couldn’t resist taking several photos. If you’d like to see them, click on the logo pictured here:

The official site for the Tear Jerkers Rally can be found here.

Ron enjoyed joking with the owners of the tear drops that our 5th wheel started out the same size as theirs until he began adding Miracle Gro to the water each time he washed it. :-)

McCormick’s Creek 95th Birthday Celebration was held on the same weekend. A free concert was presented by the Bloomington Community Band. Attendance was good, considering the temperature was 90+ degrees. Birthday cake was served to all following the concert. We helped serve the cake.

We made a day trip with granddaughter, Chelsey, to Shakamak State Park in western Indiana.

Chelsey has worked for the McCormick Creek Stables this summer as trail leader. Grandpa joined her for one of the trail rides.

Fortunately, the weather cooled considerably a little later in our month’s stay, and we were able to hike once again. If you don’t mind the 150 steps plus going down (and what goes down must come up), Trail 10 is very scenic, running alongside and crossing the creek.

Later in the month we enjoyed celebrating two birthdays, that of our coordinator, Connie McCain, and her husband, David’s. Including ourselves, 4 sets of camp hosts were on hand for the party.