A Brief Trip to Our Nation’s Capital

We have rarely visited major cities during our years of RV travel; driving a 46-foot rig through crowded city streets is nobody’s idea of fun. We firmly believe that the best way to visit cities is to fly in and get around using public transportation. So I was delighted when I learned that the volunteer … Read more

Citizen Science: A Less Than Stellar Turtle Season

Our turtle patrol duties are at an end, and the results are not great. But before I share the depressing news, let’s review what we were up to during turtle season, which runs from May 1 though October 31. In my earlier post about turtle patrol, I mentioned that our main activity in the early … Read more

Citizen Science: Searching for Microplastics

While our 6-month commitment to daily turtle patrolling is the most significant volunteer activity of our summer, we are also involved in another interesting citizen science project through ANERR (the Apalachicola National Estuarine Research Reserve). In our second gig, we are sampling Gulf of Mexico water and beach sand and analyzing it to determine the … Read more

Citizen Science: Losing Sleep Over Turtle Patrol

Since we are not traveling this summer, we decided to volunteer with sea turtle patrol during nesting season, which runs from May 1 through October 31. Five species of sea turtles nest on Florida beaches, all of which are endangered or threatened. The most common are loggerheads, greens, and leatherbacks, while Kemp’s Ridley and hawsbill … Read more

Atomic City Explorations

As certified science geeks, we could not visit northern New Mexico without making a stop at Los Alamos, home of the scientific laboratory component of the Manhattan Project which created the world’s first nuclear weapons. The extreme secrecy of the project’s purpose and location – personnel, supplies, and mail all arrived in Santa Fe – … Read more