All in a days work

The transition from Lavon to Grapevine wasn’t to bad. Matter of fact it was the right move for my career and I'm glad I did it. the staff is great to work with and my lake manager is a pleasure to work for. It's been a smooth transition.

For those who don't know about the life and times of a Ranger, I thought I would give a quick blurb and then show some pics of a recent outing. The long and short of it is being a Corps Ranger can be a challenge. We administer 2,500 recreation areas on 460 projects nationwide, 360,000,000 visits per year on 12% of the nations total federal park lands and protect over 12 million acres of lands and prime natural resources. To put that into perspective the National Park Service’s Yellowstone National Park is 2.2 million acres alone. That’s just the recreation side of the Corps. for all of that there are less than 2,000 Corps Rangers nationwide. It’s a handful but most Rangers wouldn’t have it any other way.

The reasons why we become Rangers are simple, love of people, parks and natural resources. Honestly though most of us just want to be outside and be able to work in the nations park land areas. The nature of the job requires certain tools to accomplish our management goals and we use these tools to do just that. For example, we use boats, 4x4’s, horses, bikes and of course ATV’s. Since coming to Grapevine I have had my share of adventures, heck most every day is an adventure of some kind. To illustrate this I thought I would share some pretty cool photos of one of our recent outings patrolling the wildlife management area on the north end of Grapevine Lake. Its tough work but somebody has to do it:)

Lets go Flying

When I was a kid, like many little kids, I wanted to be a pilot. It’s a fairly natural thing I think. The desire to want to get up there with the birds and be able to look down on Gods creation. I wasn’t any different and went through that stage. I even took a flight lesson when I was 13. My instructor took me up in his Cessna airplane out of Red Bird Airport and we flew around the Dallas skyline (pre 9/11) and then back to the airport. I loved it but sometime between that flight and 2002 I decided being a Park Ranger was a better idea. Don’t laugh, its true. So I pretty much rote that off as just a phase.

While working at Lavon I met some pretty interesting people. One of which is Kirk Wood. Kirk had a friend that would take him up in his airplane every so often so when Kirk gave me the invite I jumped all over it. The date and place was set and Kirk and I met his friend at the airport. It was just like I remembered, the takeoff, turns, barrel rolls, and landing, well maybe no barrel rolls. Flying is fun but in a little airplane it’s a whole lot more real. We flew over Lavon Lake and I got to get a birds eye view of the parks and resources I worked to protect and administer for the last three years. It was a totally different perspective and a real good way of going out. Thanks a bunch Kirk!

Alaska

Alaska was great. if you ever get a chance to go, jump at it. It is truly one of the most magnificent places on earth. You think you have seen it, pictures, movies, screen saver, etc. but its just not the same. Aside from being one of the most incredibly beautiful places on earth its also a great place to travel to with friends and family. I got this opportunity and was able to share it with some of my most favorite people. We took a week long inland passage cruise from Vancouver and ended in Whittier, Alaska. It was one of the most fun things i have ever done and I'm pleased to share the following photos with you. Enjoy!

Update, I promise

I know I have been falling down on the job with this blog thing. I guess I have just been real busy, at least that’s the excuse im using. So, my plan is to do a series of blogs over the next few days to get the 6.5 people who follow this blog caught up. Don’t know why it matters, the people who read this already know what’s going on with me for the most part. I guess I do have some pictures I’d like to share so I will just do a small blurb then put lots of pics. If your anything like me you probably only want to see pictures anyway:)

For starters I just wanted to pick up where I left off in June. In my last blog I said I was going to Alaska. Well, I did. And then I came back. Lots of stuff happened between that trip and now. Girlfriend, no girlfriend. Went from ranger at Lavon to ranger at Grapevine, and plenty of good hunting trips. I got to fly around in a friend’s airplane over Lake Lavon as kind of a going away, farewell to that lake. I traveled from Huntsville Alabama to Memphis and then on to Hot Springs with Shannon. I even went back to Tarleton State University with friends for my first ever Tarleton football game and homecoming festivities (three years there and I couldn’t seem to find time to be a college student till now).

In the next few weeks I have some cool stuff coming up that ill share. Im going to New York City, my sisters graduation from Texas A&M, maybe another hunting trip to Arkansas and back to San Diego in February (just a conference, no job offers). My advice to my 7 followers (I just got confirmation from one who was on the fence about this blog)…..stay tuned