Hot Springs State Park volunteers explain why they came to Thermopolis

Wyoming Hot Springs State Park (HSSP) has volunteers from all over the country who come with their RVs and help with the maintenance of the park. All of them feel extremely fortunate to spend their retirement years collaborating in gardening and upkeep. The relationships of the volunteers have become quite close and collegial. 

For the volunteers that come to HSSP, their work is done out of the goodness of their hearts and for an RV spot. They agree to spend 20 hours per week helping out. The other part of their time they can venture off and explore the state's surrounding areas, such as Yellowstone Park or the Tetons, or they can soak in the mineral pools of HSSP.

Naomi McCormack from San Luis Obispo County, California, said, "I retired last October and went full-time RV and just happened upon a Wyoming Volunteer application, randomly filled it out, submitted it and got the call. So this is my first time." 

McCormack beams when asked what it's like to be here. She said she loves it. "The people in the park, the people I'm working for. It's been great. It's been a lot of fun learning how these big gardens are planted. When I first arrived Cliff and Kathy were already here and were in planting mode. So we planted all the beds and flowers. So that was a good week of digging."

Jan Hall from Panama City, Florida, is another volunteer. She is from the east coast and grew up in Maine.

She said, "I was living in New Hampshire when I retired in 2016. I had been researching being a work camper for about 5 years. I had my house packed up, my rig picked out and I headed out on the road. I've been doing this for about 4 years. I've worked for the forest service, I've worked for the Florida state parks services. I love it. I love the RV life and sold my house in New Hampshire last year. We knew we wanted to go somewhere up in Wyoming this year. I looked around and found this. To me, this is perfect. It's a park, it's not a campground. I knew we'd be working outside. I love doing maintenance and gardening."

Kathy Rausa, also from Panama City Florida, retired in 2015 and found a little park in Florida close to her home and started volunteering there. She loved it and met some great people and started following friends around all over the country for the summer because no one wants to be in Florida in the summer, she said.

"It's not the mosquitos it's the heat, 110 degrees just doesn't work. I always dreamed about coming out west. I knew out west is the place I wanted to be."

Rausa added, "It's awesome to be here at the HSSP. The buffalo to me are so cool and of course the natural hot springs. Being in a place where Native Americans were here way before us and this was sacred to them. I kinda feel that kinship. Like, oh my God, they knew something." 

When Rausa first saw HSSP she was in awe. She asked herself, "Is this the place? Are we here and we get to do this? We really get to do this for free and have a place all summer long to live?"

Another couple of volunteers are Kathy and Cliff Vellinga from Las Vegas, Nevada. They will be married 53 years this August. They explained their origin story and how they came to the park.

Kathy said, "Our grandson was married last April. His new wife was from Byron, Wyoming. They had an open house for them in September. And Cliff read a book that took place in the Wind River Mountains and the Wind River Canyon. He said to me, 'Let's go up to the open house and then I can see the Wind River Canyon.' So we came on a little camping trip and went to the Wind River Mountains and to the open house. On the way back we stopped in Thermopolis because we wanted to experience the mineral pools. We stayed an extra day because we liked it. Later, Cliff says to me 'why don't we go back up there during October?' We got an Airbnb and came for the whole month of October and every day we went to the pools. About a week before we were ready to leave, Kevin Skates says you've got to come back and be a volunteer for us next summer. He explained to us what we have to do with yard work, planting flowers and taking care of things and that you get a spot for a 5th wheel or RV. We thought that sounded pretty good. We went home and sold our little truck and got a big truck to pull our RV. We came so we could be here and experience the pools and the parks. We like the staff and the people. We filled out the application and they said 'Come!'"

Kathy Vellinga said, "We love it here. From Las Vegas, we thought this would be the perfect place to get out of the summer heat. There are times we are driving around and we look at each other and ask, 'How did we get so lucky?' And then we were sitting here in our lounge chairs the other night just watching the river go by. We commented to each other about how blessed we felt. That we felt like we were almost guided here in a way because it's just such a beautiful place. There's such a camaraderie amongst the park staff and the volunteers here. And the beauty. How many times do we just drive around and just stare at the peacefulness and the quietness and the clouds? We are sure lucky to be with these volunteers. We've become such good friends."

Kathy Rausa concluded, "As far as being a volunteer here I would equate this to being probably one of our best compared to other times helping out at other locations. Everyone is easy to work with, collaborative, cooperative, it's been great. "