(Mail to Jordan, from May 26th, 1995...)

Life in the National Park Service is okay so far. I got thrown to the lions last Sunday, my first day at the Thornton Gap Entrance Station. Quite a lot of cars that day, one after another, all day long. "Hi there, how are you, gee its a nice day, that'll be five dollars please, here's your receipt, its good for seven days, here's a park map, have a good trip, hi, howya doin', oh, a park pass, thats nice, see you, have a nice day..." You get the drift.

Still no uniform yet. I may get a chance to get out into the backcountry in a week or two--one of the regular trail crew guys broke his ankle hiking a week ago and they're gonna put him in the entrance station until he heals. I'll be out with other backcountry guys doing trail maintenance, looking for illegal campsites and the like. It oughtta be fun. During the week its pretty slow at the station. At times there have been three of us working and very few cars heading into the park. They let us read when its slow. It'll pick up once schools are out.

Remember our flaky little friend Bessie, our upstairs neighbor on 12th St in DC? She called last week. She heard that I got a job as a park ranger and wanted to know a good place to camp. They wanted to build a campfire, which is a big No-No in the national park but okay in the national forest west of Luray. I suggested that they head there. The national forests are a lot more relaxed that the national parks.

    Ranger Joe, Defender of Bunnies, Squasher of Squirrels (I can't remember if I told you this last time or not--I ran over a squirrel driving to work on my first day as a Park Ranger.)