SV Orion - Annapolis, MD
dieters@sv-orion.com
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Late September - Staying the Course

9/30/2022

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PictureDave powerwashes the picnic table on a deck before making repairs
​Summer was reluctant to give up its hold on central Virginia as September was coming to a close. But after sweating through several 90 degree days mid-month, we had switched from AC to heat and were cozy inside as Ian’s remnants made their way through the park on the last day of the month. Despite Mother Nature’s tantrums, we continued to make progress on project preparations.

PictureDave and Kevin cut boards for a repair
Project Work​

While administrative work is pretty much a daily activity, once the larger wood and supply orders were placed for Cabin Work Week, we turned more of our attention to hands-on work. The boards that have been drying out over the past year are now ready to be primed and painted, preferably before the project starts. So, we started working our way through our large inventory.

​In addition, there are 75 to 100 screens in each cabin site, and most need re-screening. Some need to be completely rebuilt. That means lots of frame wood and screen trim. While another volunteer had already ripped boards into hundreds of screen trim pieces. We took some scrap wood and ripped it to make wood for new screen frames. Then all of this wood needed to be primed and painted.  

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We had help with the painting. On Public Lands Day, the last Saturday in September, we were joined by 7 volunteers who primed all of that screen trim and got the finish coat on much of the frame wood and some 100 pieces of screen trim. While all of this was going on, another couple of volunteers scraped and primed a nearby building used by the Virginia Master Naturalists, and yet another patched holes in siding in this year’s group cabin site.



PictureDave and Kevin fit new board on Hotel Pocahontas deck
During the last week, we were joined by Kevin, who is a new Cabin Work Week volunteer. The park had asked for help repairing a deck behind a building they call Hotel Pocahontas, but it was originally the Algonquin Ecology Camp’s administrator residence. The deck and door threshold were rotting in part because there are no gutters on the building. In preparation for that work to be done, we powerwashed the deck, replaced rotted deck boards and re-built the back door threshold that was seriously compromised. Once the gutters are in place (likely in October), there is a reasonable chance the repairs will hold for quite a while.  

PictureReturning from a tour in the rain
Guests

What a treat to get 2 visits within a couple of days from friends passing through the area. Susan and Frank Davis arrived on a Sunday afternoon as they made their way back to Jacksonville (and to prepare for Ian’s arrival). We took them on a tour of the group cabins that was cut short by the arrival of a downpour. Good sports, they weathered the rain in our long golf cart ride back to their car and had smiles despite the turn in the weather.  Also, since Faith still had some devices that were not working due to the lightning strike back in July, Dave configured a new router that should replace one that failed and sent it on its way with Susan and Frank.  One more small step forward. 

PictureFred and Pat at Pocahontas for the night
A day later, Cathy awoke to a text from Pat that she and Fred might be stopping that day nearby on their way south to Charleston. Trying to get in to the their destination campground in NC before Ian’s arrival, they were just passing through. After working with them to try to secure a spot at a nearby Walmart (who said no), we lured them back to the park with us for the night, and had a good time catching up.

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Parting Shot

​We had a not so welcome passenger on the golf cart one day. He got off at the next stop. Or so we hope.

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Early September - Back in Virginia

9/17/2022

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Arriving in Reston just before Labor Day weekend, we were one stop away from our final destination for the next few months at Pocahontas State Park. This was the latest date for our return to the park before our annual Cabin Work Week project, so we pretty quickly got to work assessing inventory and creating orders for supplies needed for this year’s project.  ​

PictureAt Lake Fairfax Park campground
Lake Fairfax​

Our return to Reston had us arriving just as the holiday traffic was beginning. We were grateful to be pulling in on a Thursday, avoiding the peak of the traffic on Friday. Against our better judgment, we did venture out on Friday and so did just about everybody else. We confined much of our exploration to the park for most of the weekend, although we did visit with Cookie and Jerry on Sunday night – one of our main reasons for stopping back in Reston on our way back south.

PictureDave measuring deck for replacement boards
Pocahontas State Park​

Time at Pocahontas quickly falls into a schedule of sorts. Mornings take us to the work site to inventory supplies, assess the site, or start preparing wood for the project. Afternoons find us back at the RV working on computers or phones as we work to finalize volunteer lists, research and order supplies, plan activities or some other project-related activity. We have occasional meetings with park staff and other hosts.  

PictureTroy and Taylor at Pocahontas
On the weekends, we have visits with family – Bonnie and Troy’s family and Droz, including one Saturday at Busch Gardens.  ​

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RV Stuff

​Our backup camera at the back of the RV had become an essential tool for Dave to back the RV into a campsite. Since it was installed last year, it had performed flawlessly – until it didn’t. Pulling into Lake Fairfax, the camera signal just wasn’t there on the monitor.

​Thinking it was a loose wire, Dave crawled up on the roof of the RV to check. While Cathy watched the monitor, Dave adjusted wires and the cameras position, but nothing changed. To ensure the problem was with the camera and not the connections in between, we swapped out the camera on the back of the RV with the one from the truck that shows the truck bed. When that worked, we decided to make it a permanent change. Before we were done, we discovered that now both cameras worked. With the 2 cameras swapped, all was good, although it wasn’t clear what caused the outage.

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Parting Shots

Passing into Maryland on route 15 from Pennsylvania, we stopped at a welcome center that had a display about the creation of the border between the 2 states. With lots of conflict between the two colonies, a definitive border needed to be set. Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon took on the task with what was state of the art technology for its day. Using a transit device to determine the direction for the border line, and a gunter’s chain to measure distance, they set “crown” stones every 5 miles. These had been carved in England and shipped to the colonies to be placed with William Penn’s crest on the PA side and Lord Calvert’s on the MD side. While the Mason-Dixon line has some uglier connotations from later US history, it was originally about ending a conflict, not starting one.

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