Dear Internet,
I'm writing this from the passenger seat of Buck Hunter while South Dakota grasslands fly past my window. That's right, we're en route to Montana again, and I could not be happier about that. The last few weeks have been great, but kind of stressful and very hot. So why don't I tell you about them?
After a great visit home to Virginia, I spent my first week back cutting out corridor for a trail at Poplar Bluff. It was hot, tough work (on federal land, it's required that you wear long sleeves when operating a chainsaw... yuck, in 100-degree weather), but we got to float down the river after work every day.
That weekend, I crashed Will's motorcycle into a fence. He was trying to teach me to ride it, just letting practice with the clutch, when I accidentally twisted the accelerator - those devil things are tricky - and sped off (at about 15 mph, according to Will) into a nearby chain-link fence. I ended up with some scrapes and bruises and three stitches on my chin, but otherwise not too badly off. The bike has maybe a few hundred dollars' worth of damage: a bent handlebar, smashed glass on the headlamp and gauges, and so on. All in all, it could have been a lot worse and I'm glad it wasn't.
The next week was spent building trail at Shawnee National Forest in Illinois. It was a decent week, with not too much about it to mention except the large number of bees on the trail.
That weekend, however, all the teams except for mine were called to a group of fires near Potosi, MO. They left from project on Friday and didn't return to St Louis until Sunday evening, so the few other people from the Shawnee project and I spent the weekend feeling kind of worried and helpless, not sure if we would be called out to help (and hopingwe would be). Luckily, all our firefighters returned safely from their weekend of 105+ degree heat and we made it to Llywelyn's in time to take advantage of $2 pitchers.
This past week was spent packing out for the Montana trip. My friend June, who's donating bone marrow to a 7-year-old girl next week, held a bone marrow registry drive and most of ERT turned up to join the national registry, which was pretty cool. We were able to celebrate the 4th of July in town, taking advantage of an air show and fireworks downtown.
Finally we rolled out of old Soulard yesterday morning and have been on the road since, with the goal of reaching Butte and Fleecer Cabin by tomorrow afternoon.
I won't say that I can't believe a year has gone by so fast. It's been filled with challenges as well as blessings, and I feel like I've changed so much that to say it happened quickly would be dishonest. It's been an incredible year for sure, one I'll remember forever.
But I'm getting ahead of myself - it's not quite the end yet. We've all - together - still got Montana and some new memories ahead of us. So for now, the mountains are calling and I must go :)
xoxo Liz
I'm writing this from the passenger seat of Buck Hunter while South Dakota grasslands fly past my window. That's right, we're en route to Montana again, and I could not be happier about that. The last few weeks have been great, but kind of stressful and very hot. So why don't I tell you about them?
 |
| En route... mountains approaching! |
That weekend, I crashed Will's motorcycle into a fence. He was trying to teach me to ride it, just letting practice with the clutch, when I accidentally twisted the accelerator - those devil things are tricky - and sped off (at about 15 mph, according to Will) into a nearby chain-link fence. I ended up with some scrapes and bruises and three stitches on my chin, but otherwise not too badly off. The bike has maybe a few hundred dollars' worth of damage: a bent handlebar, smashed glass on the headlamp and gauges, and so on. All in all, it could have been a lot worse and I'm glad it wasn't.
 |
| The damage. |
That weekend, however, all the teams except for mine were called to a group of fires near Potosi, MO. They left from project on Friday and didn't return to St Louis until Sunday evening, so the few other people from the Shawnee project and I spent the weekend feeling kind of worried and helpless, not sure if we would be called out to help (and hopingwe would be). Luckily, all our firefighters returned safely from their weekend of 105+ degree heat and we made it to Llywelyn's in time to take advantage of $2 pitchers.
This past week was spent packing out for the Montana trip. My friend June, who's donating bone marrow to a 7-year-old girl next week, held a bone marrow registry drive and most of ERT turned up to join the national registry, which was pretty cool. We were able to celebrate the 4th of July in town, taking advantage of an air show and fireworks downtown.
 |
| Soulard fireworks :) |
Finally we rolled out of old Soulard yesterday morning and have been on the road since, with the goal of reaching Butte and Fleecer Cabin by tomorrow afternoon.
 |
| An overnight stop in Mitchell, South Dakota necessitates a visit to the famous Corn Palace. |
I won't say that I can't believe a year has gone by so fast. It's been filled with challenges as well as blessings, and I feel like I've changed so much that to say it happened quickly would be dishonest. It's been an incredible year for sure, one I'll remember forever.
But I'm getting ahead of myself - it's not quite the end yet. We've all - together - still got Montana and some new memories ahead of us. So for now, the mountains are calling and I must go :)
xoxo Liz
