Beginning Retirement

    As I reflect on my life I see it as a series of "calls." My first vocational call was to life as a wife and mother. My second vocational call was to work as a sixth grade public school teacher. My third vocational call was to the ordained ministry in the United Methodist Church. On July 1, 2020 I retired after 19 years under appointment as a pastor to UMC churches and have now embarked on what I am calling a "Sabbatical Year of Discernment" while I discern what the next "call" looks like. 

    For the past several years as I have anticipated retirement I knew that I wanted to begin it traveling the U.S. in our 26 foot motor home, experiencing the world of nature with an emphasis on hiking in our beautiful National Parks. Ending my years of ministry under the Shelter in Place restrictions due to Covid 19 has been a strange way to begin this journey, but on Sunday afternoon, June 28, after preaching my last online worship service, my husband Rob, our two cats Elsie and Straus and I headed out of Eureka, California headed for our "home base" in Colfax, California where I would begin my retirement on July 1.  Not one hour out of Eureka we had a serendipitous encounter with a couple at our first rest stop at Founders Grove in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. There we met two docents, a husband and wife team, and the husband greeted Rob with questions about his service in Viet Nam because of the hat Rob often wears. We learned that this couple have been living full time in their 30 foot motor home for 20 years dividing their time between volunteering in California State Parks and visiting other parks in the western U.S. They talked about how much they love this lifestyle and that though they are in their early 80s they don't ever want to give it up. Their upbeat attitude and tales of some of the ups and downs of their years was a delightful beginning to the journey ahead of us.

    Writing a blog is new experience for me, but I want to be very intentional about recording some of our experience, queries and thoughts. I'm not sure how often I'll write, nor how this will interface with postings on Facebook, but here we go. Below are two things I have already posted on Facebook.

July 10, 2020:

Ten days into retirement, and it still feels a bit like vacation, but freer! Days one and two we were camped in the driveway of our home base in Colfax.

Day 3 we headed to the mountains to camp and swim and hike with family at Wright’s Lake, staying there five nights.

I got a magical glide in my kayak, brought by daughter Ruth. (It won’t fit on the RV) I also got a beautiful morning hike up to Twin Lakes, complete with lots of my favorite high Sierra wildflowers.

We left Wright’s Lake to spend two nights in the parking lot of Kings Beach UMC, and visited (at safe distances outside) with some of our Tahoe connections, and of course hiked in the woods and walked to the lake.

Hmmm...some how I missed getting a picture of the lake!

Tonight we’re camped in our first Harvest Host location, a golf course in Plumas County. We head to Lassen tomorrow.

Here is "LesThora," as we sometimes refer to our RV, parked in the driveway of our Colfax home base.

Our three youngest Grandchildren at Wright's Lake Campground

Awww...

Scenes on the way to Twin Lakes

Views of my favorite high Sierra wildflowers.

July 14, 2020:

Not too long after arriving in Eureka 8 years ago Rob and I went to hike on the Rhododendron Trail at Prairie Creek State Park. As we crossed the parking lot toward the trailhead I said, “I know what I want to do when I retire, go to all the National Parks and hike in them.”

Now I am retired and we have hiked in our first post retirement National Park: Lassen Volcanic National Park. It wasn’t our first time in this park, but we did hike trails we’d never been on before, including the hardest 2 mile hike I think I’ve ever done: Ridge Lakes.

We’re now at the remote Lava Bed National Monument looking forward to seeing some of its trails and caves tomorrow. It’s hot here, but we’re enjoying the shade of a Juniper tree. Love this place already as it reminds me of our beloved UMC campground in Austin Nevada.

Lassen Volcanic National Park Entrance, Rob and I trying to not look too exhausted after the hike up to Ridge Lakes, and one of the bubbling mud pots Lassen is famous for.

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A view of Lassen Peak across Manzanita Lake and the bottom of Chaos Crags