Well, this morning was a change. I woke up around 7:00 am to give myself a little time to eat breakfast and get ready without rushing. We reported to the work center a 8:30 to begin with PT. We ended up having to wait around until 9:00 am for the other team to show up. They commute from Boulder, so it’s hard to say whether it was traffic or a miscommunication about report time. Anyway, once they got there, Chad (one of our Forest Service supervisors) led us on a run, about two miles. It was mostly uphill, about 65% trails and 35% road. The weather was nice, sunny and a bit cool. I was usually trailing behind the front group in the pack but I was most focused on maintaining a steady pace for the entire run.
After the run, we circled back up at the work center and did a bunch of calisthenics from the Navy Seal work out. We did a lot of push-ups and crunches. We also did a variety of pull-ups. Thankfully, I wasn’t the only one who needed a spotter to hold my feet and give me a bit of a boost on the pull-up bar. I have only ever successfully done one pull-up in my entire life. So one of my goals is to definitely be able to do a series of pull-ups without a spotter.
After PT was done, we changed into our uniform and gathered up to take an inane exam on NIMS, the National Incident Management System, a bunch of hierarchical guidelines put into place after 9/11 for disaster response and so forth. So dumb. So we took the exam, and then sat around for a while and talked some more about policies and what we can expect. It was kind of a slow day today and we got out early again. Tomorrow, we have a class on chain saws and … other things that I can’t remember right now.
So after we arrived yesterday, we unloaded our stuff and settled in a bit. Earth 4, the team we’ll be working with (that is living where we were supposed to be in Boulder), met us there and we got issued some extra gear that we didn’t have. As an ATL, I get the added privilege of carrying an extra box of batteries and some flagging tape. Work finished early because we didn’t have a whole lot other than going over some logistics. So we came back to the bunkhouse and got more comfortable.
I went grocery shopping right after work and it was really a slap in the face. The cost of living in Colorado is much higher than where we were living in Texas, and the cost of living in Boulder is even higher than in Denver. So, even at a Safeway supermarket where I could use my mom’s phone number to get the club card deals, and even with the tax exemption, we were still about $30 over the weekly food budget. It sucked. And I know that I didn’t buy nearly as much food as I did in Texas. I keep trying to remind myself that the first week is always tough because you have to buy everything, there’s no food base. But still … I think we’re going to have to find another option. We’re going to be eating a whole lot more than we normally do just because of the work we’ll be doing and how much more our bodies will need. I know I can only work with what I’m given and no one on my team is going to starve. But I don’t like knowing that people won’t be full. I guess we’ll see what happens next week. The plan might be to go shopping at a Wal-Mart supercenter in Denver while we’re there from Sunday into Monday for the kick off of AmeriCorps Week. Unfortunately, even if we save money there it won’t matter – the budget doesn’t roll over. We get $315 for ten people every week, regardless of how much we’ve spent the previous week. It’s a big pain, especially when we could use the extra. We saved a ton of money while we were on our first spike in Texas. But ultimately, we saved AmeriCorps money as an organization. We don’t get to be frugal only to splurge later. It’s annoying.
Once we got back from the grocery store, everyone unloaded the groceries while I got to unpack my stuff and settle into my room. I’m pretty organized, there’s room for just about everything. Living in the bunkhouse for seven weeks should be pretty comfy.
So after work today, a few of us went into town for about an hour. I went to the library to get online and do a little Googling, check my email. The Nederland public library is a little big bigger than a Subway. I’m not kidding. But it has free wifi, so that’s really all that matters. I need to take some pictures of around the bunkhouse, work center and Ned. It’s beautiful. Every time I turn around the view just seems too good to be true. How can sights like this exist?
Okay, I’m going to take a shower and get ready for bed. Got another long day tomorrow.
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