Friday after whatever we did all day on campus, my old team and I left for Calwood! Christina had called them for us to see if we could come stay the weekend and get a whole bunch of ISP hours. All of us except Marquis went. She had also offered the opportunity to Davis and Marie from my new team, because we're all assuming we won't be able to do any ISP in Big Bend. She even got approval to take a van up there, so she dropped us off on Friday night. It was sooo nice to be back. Becky, Michala, Rob, Davis, Marie, and I were the only ones that went in the van. TK, Lindsey, Jess, Heather, and Tomm all came later that night in TK's car because TK and Lindsey wanted to go to a concert in Boulder and the others just wanted to hang out downtown. When the van crew got there, pretty much all we did was play a few card games in the lodge. None of the staff were there because it was the weekend and they were off, and the interns who were there when we were last year were gone, with new interns taking their place. We met a couple of the new ones, and they seemed nice, but not interested in hanging out with us. So we basically had the whole place to ourselves. Card games are of course always fun. I taught the others how to play Oh Hell, which is a pretty difficult game to explain to people who have never played. We also played BS and Go Fish, then went to bed.
We got up bright and early on Saturday to get to work. Angie had left a long list of jobs to do and said we could basically just choose which ones we wanted to do, except for the two most important. She wanted two people splitting wood the whole time we were there, just like last time. Also, near Rafa (the executive director)'s house, they had been cutting down lots of trees for fire protection. We had to bring the fallen and cut-up trees all down and stack them by the road. Later in the afternoon, Rick would come with his truck and we would load them up for him to take to the splitter. Bringing the rounds to the road was kind of fun. The road was downhill from where most of the rounds were, so we made a game out of seeing how far we could roll them down the hill. The ones that didn't roll, we threw. I don't know why, but there's just something enjoyable about throwing logs.
After lunch, Rick met us in the truck. This part was not as enjoyable. Throwing logs down a hill is fun, but throwing them into a truck that's almost as tall as your shoulder is pretty hard. I wasn't counting, but it took at least 10 trips with the truck to get rid of all the rounds. That means at least 10 loads of throwing logs into the truck. Also, I worked at Calwood for four and a half weeks when we were there before, and I don't think I ever got tree sap on myself. The one day I go back, I get sap all over both forearms. Let me tell you, tree sap doesn't wash off easily. It is Tuesday as I'm writing this, and some of it is still there.
We all went to the Merc for dinner that night, partly because we didn't have much food. Christina gave us the food we had left from New Orleans, but there wasn't a lot and it was pretty random. We had plenty of pancake mix for both mornings, and peanut butter for lunch, but no bread, just slightly stale tortillas. If we had dinner from what we had, it probably would have consisted of rice, potatoes, and onions. Obviously, the Merc sounded much better. It was pretty fun. There was a menu this time, instead of just the one option for dinner like it is on Thursdays. There was supposed to be a band, but they didn't show up. I think I'm glad they didn't, because then it would have been loud and hard to talk to everyone.
On Sunday we got to tackle the rest of the work list. They were mostly just little odd jobs. I think I chose the right one. There's a little building called the Homestead which is across the road from the lodge and up a hill. None of us ever went over there during our project. Apparently, it was a house that people actually lived in during like the 1800s. Now Calwood keeps it as one of those see how they lived things. There was an upper floor over half the building with a railing that was falling apart. Rob and I went over to repair it. We looked around the little cabin and took pictures first, then got to work. The only tools we brought were a drill and some screws, because the work list said the railing just needed to be screwed back together, but that wasn't entirely accurate. The vertical poles between the top and bottom of the railing had been nailed together but were now coming apart. We really needed a hammer to get the nails out because they were in the way of putting it back together. We went back downstairs and somehow found a super old hammer outside in a little shed thing behind the cabin. It was quite a project to get these ancient nails out, but we managed to fix the railing well enough. We then had plenty of time to poke around at all the old stuff in there. I'm glad I got a chance to see the Homestead. After we finished there, I helped Heather and Marie carry these old boards over to a pile near the lodge, then called it a day because we were leaving before too much longer and it was really cold and starting to snow. As in the tradition of NCCC, we got more done than people expect. The list Angie left said something like she knows this is a lot of projects, but this way we could choose which ones we wanted to work on. We got the whole list done!
Oh, and the Calwood staff made us a big poster that said Welcome back Sun 4, with all our names on it. There were also pictures drawn of things we did when we were there. There was a dead elk, a bird box, a giant pile of split wood by the splitter, and a picture of a pillow with a dinosaur head on it. (Remember when Tomm got his velociraptor tattoo? When he woke up the next morning, there was a perfect imprint of the dinosaur head on the Calwood pillow he was using.) The group in TK's car took it when they left, so I'll post a picture if I get one. We were all so excited when we saw it.
So, we got back to campus on Sunday afternoon and had to pack. My team wasn't packing our cargo truck (we get a truck again, like the one we used at Calwood! They're so fun to drive!) until 9pm, which was actually not good for me. I have this problem with packing, where the more time I have, the more I over pack. I'll just keep thinking of things to bring until it's time to leave. Scott, my new team leader, had said that since we had our own cargo, we could bring the giant red AmeriBag as well as another duffel or something. I was originally going to try to only bring the red bag, but I ended up filling my duffel also. Oh well. There were just so many things that I don't NEED, but that would be nice to have. Like my laptop, which I am typing on right now in a hotel room.
So, the list of why Texas is ridiculous. The first example comes from our trip home from New Orleans, which I forgot to mention. We spent a night in Amarillo again on the way back to Denver. Heather had heard of something called the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, where there are cars sticking out of the ground. The girls on my team all went (the boys decided it sounded dumb and stayed at the hotel), and it was pretty weird. There were about 10 cars, all in a straight line and sticking up at the same angle.
Yeah, pretty ridiculous. Heather said the Cadillac Ranch was just made by some guy who is super rich and likes to do random things. Also, On this trip, the entire Sun Unit and several other teams all stayed at the same hotel in Amarillo. Since the drive from Amarillo to Fort Stockton, where we are now, wasn't very long, Scott had looked up some things to do. Odessa, TX had a couple attractions. Scott found out that there was a replica of the Globe Theatre and a replica of Stonehenge, all in the same town. Both replicas were supposed to be really accurate. Well, let's just say they weren't. The pictures I took are trapped on my camera right now which is really unfortunate because it's hard to describe without pictures. Apparently Odessa just really likes terrible replicas. Also, Scott's regular team who was in Texas doing taxes last round, said that Witchita Falls, TX boasts the world's smallest skyscraper. That's pretty much just a building. Amy, who was also on that team, told us today that there's some story where the architect got the money to design a skyscraper but designed it in centimeters instead of inches or something, then took off with the money. Texas managed to turn it into a tourist attraction. Texas is just ridiculous. (If anyone reading this is from Texas or anything, I mean no offense. But seriously, your state is kind of silly.) I'm looking forward to spending the next two months here and finding more things to add to the Ridiculousness List.
So, that's the story. We are currently in Fort Stockton, which is an hour from Alpine. Alpine is the nearest town to Big Bend, two hours away. We'll get to the park tomorrow afternoon and start our camping adventure. I think we'll spend the first few days with orientation and classes, then start work.
Also, we found out our mailing address! It is:
My name - AmeriCorps NCCC
General Deliveries
Big Bend National Park
79834
Apparently, if you make sure to have AmeriCorps NCCC on it, the post office will know how to get it to us. I'll be living in a tent in the desert. Any mail anyone wants to send would be greatly appreciated.
So I'll update this thing when I can, but it won't be more than every two weeks. That's how often we'll make the two-hour drive to town to do grocery shopping and whatnot. I'll hopefully be able to find internet during those trips, but no promises.
Wish me luck!
I love the Texas is Ridiculous theme!
ReplyDeleteWish I could throw some logs! That does sound like fun!