The last two weeks for this energy-filled Kansas crew has been very exciting. We met each other, and travelled to Nashville where we met with the other five crews, leaders, SCA staff, cooks and our sturdy of-a-rock boss- Alex Olsen. We all went through SCA trainings, Army Corps of Engineers trainings and a favorite among most- the WFA trainings. We played countless games, had a riveting barn dance, and laughed through our musical nights. The campgrounds we stayed at were cabins set among different acres of land. It also had a lovely dock where the sunrise would light up the sky by day, and the stars would fill it at night.
We left Nashville headed back for Kansas and we were ready for our jobs. We spent a few days getting together some loose ends, visiting sites we would survey at, and setting up our housing. We started surveying on a nice sunny day, with a perfect wind blowing down our survey signs and arrows. We had our sunblock on, and our vests were shining brighter than the sun- we were all ready to go!
Our off days and time off have been spent lounging around at the pool, supporting Taylor in ping pong and in “footbag”(or as we call it- hackey sack). We have also been frisbee golfing, playing music, bouldering, and just hanging out as we are all learning about each other.
For our conservation projects so far, we have had two members prepare and implement a day where the team would go and help. Our first day was set up by Curtis at a house in our town where a lady had an ADA ramp built on the side of her house going to the backyard. We cleaned up the backyard, removing brush, and hauling it to the curb. We mowed the lawn. (Brittany for the first time!) We fought through a half working weed eater to get the fine details of overgrown grass. We got DIRTY! Alison set up our other project, and it was to help volunteer at a local animal shelter. After the dirty work of cleaning cages- members got to play with puppies and dogs- and even got to walk around with some of them. How fun!
Some of our possible projects we are going to be doing with The Army Corps of Engineers are cleaning up bike trails where it has become overgrown by plants and weeds. Then of course, testing them out. Our expert mountain bike rider- Dan, will let you know how it goes! He will be heading up that project soon. We are also going to create a campground in an area that people have suggested one from past surveys. It is at a lake that we are surveying at currently, and one nice ranger even took us for a walk around to check it out! We can’t wait to get working!
Stay tuned for the next edition of our blog written by Mr. Taylor Hamilton himself!
– Leah
