Month: March 2021

Volunteer State, Part II: that time we made a Girl Scout cry

I last set foot in a Girl Scout camp more than 40 years ago. The memories, and more than one annoying camp song, came flooding back when we arrived at Paris Landing State Park, the site of our 3rd gig with A Year to Volunteer (Y2V for short). The creaky metal bunks, the smell of dusty cabins, the sound of wooden benches scraping the dining hall floor, the bug bites, the tall trees and crunching leaves — all were right there with me again.

That’s me bottom left, with my friends from Troop 73 in Frostburg, MD.
Several of us remain in touch via social media, and we’ve determined that the year was 1979.
Not sure how many of us can still sing “We are all from Camp White Rock” in its entirety, though.

The objective for Y2V at Paris Landing was to renovate structures at an old Girl Scout camp that the state had purchased for the park in 2009, and had fallen into disrepair. By refurbishing Camp Hazlewood’s dining hall, bunk cabins, counselor’s cabin, and bathroom/shower houses, we gave the park a giant leap forward in their vision of offering the site as a revenue-generating group camp, special event venue, and outdoor education center. 

And by the time our stay was up?

This local newspaper article about our work caused quite a buzz amongst the women who had spent childhood summers at Camp Hazlewood. One who came out to thank us in person, Vicki, was moved to tears, and that got the waterworks going for more than a few of us volunteers too, so yes, we really did make a Girl Scout cry, and in the best possible way.

Here’s the video, with Vicki right at the intro and again at about the 11-minute mark (but don’t skip through all the impressive “befores” and “afters” to get there).

Let me walk you through the camp and show you what we did.

First order of business: Y2V founders Shar & Phil laid out our objectives, safety requirements, and COVID precautions.
All the measures we volunteers agreed to follow on our first gig were also in place for this one, with the addition of TN’s state mandated daily temperature checks and symptom questionnaires.
The camp is a short drive from the main state park campus and marina.
We could have taken a more direct route across the inlet, but I don’t think all Tim’s tools would have fit in a kayak.
This is how the bunk cabins looked when we first arrived. Those rooftops definitely put the rust in rustic.
And the interiors put the … ugh. I don’t even know.
Let me just say we were thankful for our COVID face masks when we swept them out, as in addition to the thick layer of dust, there were lots of droppings and a few dead mousies.
Swept the roofs too. More than once.
But before that? Tim worked it with the safety harness, making this… a Safety Dance?
We replaced a lot of torn screens.
And scrubbed the bejeebies out of the cot frames, and the mattresses that were still salvageable.
After a week of cleaning, rust scraping, sweeping, caulking, patching, replacing, and priming the metal panels on the 7 cabin rooftops, we finally got to slather on the Girl Scout green topcoat.
And also after that week of cleaning, rust scraping, sweeping, caulking, patching, replacing, and priming the metal panels, the ill-fitting old hiking pants I’d been using as work pants had had it.
I could live with all the paint spatters and rust stains.
The big revealing tear on the seat? Not so much.
Dumped and replaced!
With cabin rehab complete, and only two work days remaining, Tim and I were assigned to help with kitchen renovation in the counselor’s cabin. A different team had already removed the old cabinetry and installed the new, so we got to add the finishing touches.
Countertops, sink, knobs and drawer pull: done!
The two of us did not serve on the dining hall renovation team, but I am still going to boast about what they did.
Look at that Before & After!
I don’t know everything that went on over there, but I can tell you that while trudging through mud and dodging wasps, those troopers hacked down overgrown brush, ripped off the existing siding, built at least 3 sets of new doors, installed new siding, and painted the whole shebang — including the original Jolly Hall sign.
And here we all are inside the new & improved Jolly Hall, for our official group photo on the last day of “camp.”
(photo credit: A Year to Volunteer)

Each of our Y2V experiences has provided a perfect combination of rewarding work, fellowship, and fun, and more than a few additional perks. At Paris Landing, the park comped our sites, their friends organization treated us to a pizza picnic lunch, spring came, and Tim took me to Paris for my birthday dinner.

Ah, springtime in Paris (Tennessee).

Where are we now, and what’s next?

We’re still in Tennessee, working our fourth Y2V project, at David Crockett Birthplace State Park. Our mission here involves constructing a new amphitheater and footbridge, creating signage, building a trail, and more.

Next stop: DRV service center in Howe, IN, for RV repairs. Again. It’s complicated.

My mess-up: Using “we” and “our” is tricky in these posts. Sometimes it means the whole Y2V crew, sometimes it means a small Y2V team, and sometimes it means only we two Rohrers. I hope nobody thinks that Tim & I are taking credit for having our hands in every single project or doing any one of them on our own, because we just don’t have that many hands. In this post, I’ve described the tasks the two of us worked on, and bragged on one that we didn’t. To learn how we got involved with Y2V in the first place (wine), read this.

For more about Y2V and their upcoming projects, visit them on

Paris Landing State Park was our third service project with Y2V. Others were/will be

Our Pandemic Caveat
We are traveling a lot less than we normally would, and as often as possible we choose destinations that offer ample outdoor opportunities, and are unlikely to be crowded. 
When we gather with friends or family, we keep our numbers small, and we request honest communication beforehand about their comfort level. 
We continue to wear masks in public and wash/sanitize hands frequently, we limit our outings, and we’ll get vaccinated when our age group is eligible.
 ~ The rrrrOHHHHRRRerrrrs, March 2020 – ?

Volunteer State, Part I: tear it down, build it up, paint, paint, paint

What doesn’t kill you might make you stronger, but what doesn’t freeze you solid makes you wonder why you weren’t smart enough to choose a February service project in The Bahamas.

Wow, was it brrrrrrrrcold that first week with A Year to Volunteer (Y2V for short) at Fall Creek Falls State Park in Spencer, TN, with temps in the teens, ice and snow, even the eponymous falls looked like they were inside a snow globe.

But other than a single snow day off for safety (which we made up the following Saturday), our Y2V team showed up, manned up, warmed up, and put it up. All of it. Like we knew we could.

And we knew we could because this was our second Y2V service project, so we’ve seen the whirlwind in action. The recap of our first (a state park in GA), and how we got involved with Y2V (wine) is all right here.

The list of objectives for Y2V at Fall Creek Falls included building two new bridges and demolishing an old one, rerouting trails, renovating a set of public restrooms, and painting guest lodge interiors. But by the time our stay was up?

That’s what I mean by “the whirlwind.”
Keep reading to find out how it all translated into dollars the park got to keep in its pockets.

All the COVID precautions Y2V participants adhered to on our first gig were also in place for this one, with the addition of TN’s state mandated daily temperature checks and symptom questionnaires.

Tim and I started off the 2-week adventure (Feb. 15-26, 2021) on the Pretty Potties Crew, a.k.a. Potty Posse, Loo Crew, or “Stall”ions.

We helped tear out the old stall partitions, toilets, sinks, etc.; then painted; then installed new partitions and most of the toilets. The park maintenance department wanted to build new sink stands, so our part of the job ended at that point.

After the partitions and potties came out, it was an uuuuuugly scene.
And since those old partitions were dumpster-bound anyway, I pretended to be a bad girl, and added a little graffiti.
Then we prepped surfaces…
… and painted —
… and painted …
… and painted …
… until finally, it looked like this.
This too.
We took those walls from 3-4 random colors to 2 complementary ones, and oh, what a difference that made!
The following week, it was time to install the stalls.
Teamwork!
It was still cold, inside and out.
This is my “I really don’t want to be photographed when I’m stuffed into 4 layers of clothing” face.
We did it!
And working with Y2V friends, Dale & Missy, Dan, and JJ (who’s in the video above, but not pictured here) made it fun.

The two of us also helped with the construction of one of two bridges designed to reroute trails.

When we started that first morning, only the concrete pedestals were in place.
With assistance from park maintenance staff and a couple of rangers, a big flat-bed truck, a 4-wheeler, and some heavy-duty chains, those support beams were pulled down the hill and across the creek, and bolted into place.
By the end of the day, it looked like a bridge.
And by the end of the second day, it was all done, with stairs at one end, and a platform extension at the other, allowing hikers a safe and smooth transition across the creek on the new trail.
And then this old rickety bridge?
Our team hauled that baby out in pieces, and the trails leading to it were blocked and/or covered.

And speaking of trails, Tim & I threw our backs (and legs, and shoulders) into some of that work too. We’ve done a lot of hiking, but creating new trails was a first for both of us.

One does not simply blaze a trail.
There were angles and slopes and drainage to take into account.
And every time we dug up a root or a rock (like every few inches) those three things had to be reconsidered and recalculated, and soil pushed around accordingly.
It’s a science, people study it, and we’re glad all we had to do was follow the ranger’s instructions. The labor alone was hard enough!
Also? The top layer of loose soil is called duff.
Which is exactly what we worked off.
Gratifying moments: Tim got to help build the split rail fences that will help guide hikers away from the more dangerous old pathways and toward the safer new ones …
… and I got to hang brand new trail markers on a brand new section of trail.

In addition to the usual Y2V combination of hard work, fellowship, and fun, we enjoyed some unexpected and most appreciated perks. The park comped our sites, treated us to a pizza night, provided quarters for us to use in their laundry facility, and even hosted a farewell banquet for us.

According to Ranger Robert, who presented each of us with a certificate of appreciation, Y2V’s labors saved the park upwards of 220 thousand dollars. Woo hoooo!
I’d do it all again for another BBQ plate like this.
The Friends of Fall Creek Falls and local fire department, who did the cooking and serving at our farewell banquet, fed this team well.
And y’all? When we showed up for this gig on Valentine’s Day?
Y2V founders, Shar & Phil, made sure everyone felt loved from the moment we pulled into the park.
Chocolate made that whole day’s drive disappear, and alleviated the pain of the 2-hour adventure in RV yoga it took to get us positioned and level in our narrow hillside site.

Where are we now, and what’s next?

We’re still in Tennessee, working our third Y2V project, at Paris Landing State Park. Our mission here involves renovating several structures at an old Girl Scout camp, so that it can be used as a revenue-generating group camping area and outdoor education center for the park.

Next stop: our 4th Y2V project, at Davy Crockett Birthplace State Park. We’re gonna build an amphitheater!

My mess-up: Using “we” and “our” is tricky here. Sometimes it means the whole Y2V crew, sometimes it means a small Y2V team, and sometimes it means only we two Rohrers. I hope nobody thinks that Tim & I are taking credit for having our hands in every single project or doing any one of them on our own, because we just don’t have that many hands. In this post, I’ve described only the tasks the two of us worked on. To appreciate the full scope, visit Y2V’s YouTube channel, and check out Fall Creek Falls Part I and Part II.

Different falls, warmer day, somewhere over the rainbow

 To learn more about A Year to Volunteer and their upcoming projects, visit them on

Fall Creek Falls State Park was our second service project with Y2V. Others were/will be

Our Pandemic Caveat
We are traveling a lot less than we normally would, and as often as possible we choose destinations that offer ample outdoor opportunities, and are unlikely to be crowded. 
When we gather with friends or family, we keep our numbers small, and we request honest communication beforehand about their comfort level. 
We continue to wear masks in public and wash/sanitize hands frequently, we limit our outings, and we’ll get vaccinated when our age group is eligible.
 ~ The rrrrOHHHHRRRerrrrs, March 2020 – ?