Padre Island National Seashore
I had another volunteer location starting October 1 that didn’t work out in a multitude of ways, so I wandered to absolutely wonder Port Aransas from mid October to mid December. Then I literally stumbled on a great volunteer opportunity with Padre Island National Seashore when I attended a training seminar for cold stunned turtles. I went to the training because I want to learn anything about sea turtles but ended up the day talking to one of their volunteer coordinators Kathy Sanders.
So my second national park volunteer location is another national seashore located on the largest undeveloped barrier island in the world. I have moved from learning about the loggerhead turtles at Cumberland Island National Seashore to learning about the Kemp’s ridley that Padre Island National Seashore (PAIS) has pretty much helped bring back from the brink of extinction. Wonderful rangers and wonderful volunteers — really a great place to volunteer. I work in the visitor center talking to people, help with some computer projects and go out to the entrance station on occasion.
It’s been interesting because I’m not only learning about a new park, but I’m learning all the time about living full-time in a travel trailer. There are several challenges out here at PAIS: WIND, no cell signal, WIND, no wifi, WIND, and the ultra corrosive salt air environment.
While I was in Port Aransas I had already figured out salt air is really hard on metal – my brand new grill became a rusty mess, and my bicycle has things rusting places I didn’t even know could rust. A volunteer at Padre mention Fluid Film and I found a guy who coated everything on the trailer that could rust with it. Wonderful stuff that I highly recommend if you’re going to be in salt air.
I solved the no wifi by getting a mobile hotspot that actually works better than the phone. I have to sit in one particular spot to make calls (can’t move or the call drops) and even then there are problems. PAIS is at the ragged end of services so there are multiple challenges — cell signal, water outages, power outages. I’m not complaining because it’s simply a part of living in a remote location.
Oh, the wind – I will complain about the wind. The wind is a constant and some days to the absurd. 30+ is miserable. If it’s 40+ I need to bring in my slide which pretty much makes my trailer unlivable since the Murphy bed isn’t coming down with the slide in. A week ago 50+ suddenly came up in the morning and it was a wild scramble to get the slide in while the slide awning was completely unfurled in the wind. Fortunately another volunteer helped me.
Here are some pictures of the park and some of its residents:
