Volunteer Position, White, GA August 16-31, 2026

Sunday, August 16th marked us being halfway through our fifth month in the volunteer position in White, GA.

It was not real busy at the ramp, but man the 92 degree temperature and 105 degree heat index were brutal. I easily drank a couple of gallons of water throughout the day while in the screen room.

After dinner we watched episodes 2 and 3 of the first season of Fringe. Both of us felt like maybe we only watched the pilot episode when it premiered and then didn’t continue because these episodes weren’t familiar to us at all. Perhaps it’s because I was on the road traveling for work and we just decided not to keep up with it, or maybe because it was a series by the same yahoos who did Lost and I was NOT happy with the ending of that series.

But these two episodes were interesting (if weird, but then that IS the premise of the show) and we enjoyed them so we march on. However I won’t be surprised if these guys pull the same crap they did on Lost before this series is over.

Monday was our usual day of rest and relaxation. Other than checking the ramp/lot a few times I don’t think we left the air conditioned comfort of Nomad all day.

Voyager Front End Work

Voyager has needed some front end work for a while and Tuesday, August 18th was the day she got what she needed. I arrived at 8am for my appointment and by 9:30 the needed work was tallied up. There was a lot to be done, especially since the right front assembly was damaged pretty badly. We think it happened the previous week in the parking lot of a shopping center, but not sure. It felt like something hit the speed bump and made a scraping sound, but I parked and looked underneath at the time and couldn’t see anything.

Anyway, since it’s our only vehicle, I spent the day at a nearby Zaxby’s reading and writing (and buying food so they wouldn’t kick me out) while Voyager was in getting her needed new brakes, rotors, calipers, shocks, bearings greased, etc. etc. etc. It hits hard on a fixed income, but the work had to be done.

I also added a post to my personal blog about Swiss Nuclear Shelters. The Swiss have a very workable system that has been revived thanks to all the unrest in the world at this time.

Wednesday we took care of laundry and after dinner that evening watched the newest episode of Reacher and then another episode of Fringe.

Incense And Peppermints

Thursday the 20th we did our usual lunch out, then grocery shopping. We also picked up SOME of Cindy’s mail order incense materials. One package had not yet arrived at the pickup point by the time we needed to get back to our site.

We watched the latest episode of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds where we saw all of the Enterprise crew (expect Spock) turned into puppets that looked like Muppets. It was absurd and silly, but also a little funny. More so to Cindy who laughed SO much, which is a sound I always like hearing. We also watched more episodes of Fringe.

On Friday I had to drive back into town to pick up the last part of Cindy’s incense material order that was delivered about an hour after we got back to our site the day before. Now she has all her incense making stuff and is happy to start making her own incense again. That night we watched the latest episode of Silo.

We Meet Our Replacements

Saturday, August 22nd it was kind of slow at the ramp. Later in the day we met the couple who will be replacing us when we leave at the end of September. They are currently working at another day use area on the lake and stopped by after their shift to see what the site looks like. Last winter there was no one at the ramp and they had several break-ins occur, so it seems they’ve decided to have someone here (hence the offer to us to stay longer if we wished).

After dinner we watched the latest episode of Stuart Fails To Save The Universe and a couple of episodes of Fringe. Cindy and I have noticed that on nights we watch Fringe we have weird dreams. Not nightmares, just weird dreams. Can’t figure out why.

Happy Birthday Jeremy

Sunday was Jeremy’s birthday and we subjected him to Cindy and I singing “Happy Birthday” to him on a video call. Poor Guy!

Once again, it was not real busy at the ramp, but the sun was absolutely unrelenting. The sky was clear, so we had no clouds to break up the heat and brightness of our closest star. As long as I could sit in the screen room it was bearable, but walking the parking lot was like sitting six inches under a heat lamp.

I was able to read about 100 pages of The Fifty Years Mission: The Next 25 Years that Cindy gifted me at Christmas. I’m trying to finish all the dead tree books that I’ve received or bought over the past year, especially before we leave in 5 weeks, so I can pack them away in storage when we get back to Orlando in November. I have several left and may not succeed, but it will be fun trying.

That night we watched a couple of more episodes of Fringe (we’re up to episode 14 in the first season), so we’ll probably have weird dreams again, lol.

We also mapped out timelines and tasks to get done around here during the next few weeks as we wind down our stay here and prepare to hit the road again.

Cover Me!

For quite a while now we’ve needed to cover (NOT reupholster, as they’re simply not worth the expense) our recliners which have become worn in several places during the past 5 years of sitting in them. Months ago we ordered some covers we liked but, like a lot of things that needed to be done during this time period, have put them off while my arthritic knees were being treated.

So Tuesday was the day I had set aside to tackle that task. It required moving the recliners out of their little alcove and then THAT required vacuuming and cleaning the area where they had been sitting. Cindy’s trigger finger meant that, as much as she wanted to, she was not able to help as much as she would like, but she did everything she could to assist.

She DID help a LOT with getting the covers put on correctly and securely; but the literal heavy lifting was left to yours truly. By the time we were done and had wrangled the recliners back into place I was exhausted and she was tired just from watching me. But now the covers are on and don’t look half-bad.

To relax, I wrote a post about the return of Starlog Magazine on my reading/writing blog.

Wednesday and Thursday were our usual laundry day and grocery shopping days, respectively.

Wrapping Up

I had a whole part (4 paragraphs!) of this blog written in which I was ranting about some issues with the Star Trek: Strange New World series. But I realized no one probably cared about that particularly nerdy subject, so I have opted not to include it and spare you having to read it.

After all, even my own wife has no interest in my complaints about it, lol.

On the morning of Friday, August 28th, before it got blazing hot outside, I grilled up some meals for the following week.

That day would have also been the 109th birthday of legendary comic book writer and artist Jack Kirby. I posted on my personal blog a bit about him.

After dinner we watched the latest episode of Silo and a couple of episodes of Fringe.

Saturday and Sunday were slow days at the ramp, though we expect to be busy the following weekend for the Labor Day holiday. Each night after dinner we watched the final episodes of the first season of Fringe It was nice to see the late Leonard Nimoy make an appearance.

Monday, August 31st, I spent most of the day relaxing. Though the weekend wasn’t busy, the heat just sucked all the energy out of me.

After dinner we watched the third episode of Lanterns which was a good “origin story”, if you will, about John Stewart. Different than the one in the comic books he first appeared in about 52 years ago, but a good story nonetheless. Then we watched the season two opening episode of Fringe.

And that wrapped up the end of our fifth month in the volunteer position in White, GA

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