Easter & Camping

We had Easter break! YAY! Amanda, Mallory & Katie all went home for a few days and were all very happy that they did. We’re definitely all missing everyone back home! Sam relaxed at Cove Lake for Easter, but now he’s psyched to see his girlfriend this weekend! The rest of us drove down to New Orleans to hang out with people from other teams and check out the city. It was definitely a lot of fun & like no other city I’ve ever been to. We all feel happy & rejuvenated from seeing the people we all love & miss this week.

And now we’re CAMPING! It’s great, because now we’re just down the street from our new worksite. We’re making a connecting trail (about a mile long), so that hikers can do a nice loop outside of Frozen Lake State Park, and hopefully that will encourage more people to go up there. The trail looks amazing—our team is full of hard-working trail-builders. It’s rained quite a bit since we started camping, but everybody’s keeping surprisingly good attitudes, which makes it fun. Every night, our sponsors have cooked us the most INCREDIBLE dinners—just phenomenally delicious stuff; my mouth is watering just thinking about it…

~ Stacy

Video: Walking the Trail in Tennessee

Just another week to appreciate

As service learning is required every week, this week the team went to the Campbell County Historical Museum and Library. "Service learning" is a method for us to bring greater meaning to our projects by learning about the communities we serve and the issues that our projects address. This service learning opportunity was recommended to us by our sponsor, so we decided to spend a rainy day learning about the community, rather than just sitting around watching movies. Our visit to this historical location was hosted by the curator himself, an adorable elderly man who showed us the museum artifacts as well as shared with us stories from his past. Some of the things that interested us most included the history of the coal mining regions, some of which were once located near the trails we are building. We learned that Tennessee was once economically dependent on the coal-mining industry. In addition to talking about the past, he also mentioned issues pertaining to the present, specifically how rock quarry companies are affecting the environment by harvesting rocks. In doing so, these companies ruin trail work, cut down hundred-year-old trees, and leave areas devastated. In all, this service learning trip was very educational and directly pertained to the trails we are working on, while allowing us to appreciate the area in which we live and work.

This service learning trip was a good ending to a hard week. On the trail, we encountered some stubborn roots, heavy rocks, and other trail obstacles. Removing roots and moving rocks out of the trail requires much more time and effort than just removing duff, the top layer of soil. For the really big roots, we use the mattock or the Pulaski. For the smaller roots, we use the clippers. Large rocks require the use of the rock bar, a heavy long skinny metal bar. Despite that the work can be physically exhausting at times, the team enjoys working outside with each other. Everyday there is always something we find to appreciate, from the smallest insect with what seems to be an infinite amount of legs to the tree which looks like a giraffe (or at least I think so!). Although I never would have thought I would feel this way, Tennessee has become a place to call home. The sound of rushing creek water, the vista of rolling mountains, the blossoming Dogwood trees, and the mountain fresh air are certainly engraved in my memory, if not in all of ours.

~Maria

The Birthday

It was our team leader Maria's birthday on the 11th and we celebrated by surprising her with a little party. We got her cheesecake which is her favorite along with a few of her favorite flowers: red roses. It was an intimate gathering of our team with balloons and banners. The best part was the look on her face when she walked in the door and we all jump out yelling, surprising her. Fun was had by all. :)

~ Paige

The Hoedown

Last night there was a hoedown going down in the state of Tennessee and we were invited. To sum very briefly, a hoedown is the art of square dancing. Wow, that really was a quick summary. When we showed up we were encountered by two other schools who were itching for a good AmeriCorps hoedown. There was also a local band playing there called Boogertown and boy did they play us a good Tennessee tune or two. Teamed up with the two other colleges we learned how to square dance while having fun, psh who would of thought. Earth (One)ders learned quite a lot including the Promenade, the grape vine, the Bulls Pen, the Peek-a-boo (which was very romantic), and swing-a-partner. Don't worry, refreshments were there, as we chugged our thirst away with such beverages as mouth watering coke, always indulging water, and even Dr. Lightening. As we all sat around drinking and laughing over good times that we had created square dancing, the director rounded up his troops and we were back at it again. Once again we were swinging males and twirling females left and right. As the night ended, which oddly enough it did, Boogertown played us one last jam as all 30 of us sat and let the music soothe our happy little ears.

~ Greg

Day Two on Spike

We got to Tennessee two days ago. We started working on the trail yesterday. The weather was great. It was sunny and warm. The forest is very pretty and there is a sparking stream that crosses the trail. We started off the day by learning about the tools. They all have cool names. There’s the McCloud, the mattock, the rouge hoe, the Pulaski, and the fire rake. We also learned about duff. It’s the leaves and organic matter that covers the forest floor. “Duff is not the stuff.” A lot of what we did yesterday was clearing off the duff and digging down to the next layer of soil. We definitely spent a good time moving rocks as well. Big rocks. Really big rocks. It felt good to get dirty and sweaty.

Today it’s raining and we’re trapped inside. We cleaned and sharpened tools and watched a video about hiking and trail building. It was good but I’m eager to get outside again.

This is a haiku I wrote:

The mattock is sharp
The duff is thick and leafy
Today I build trails.

~ Sam

Spike Travel

We left campus on Monday morning around 10am. The first day we drove through Colorado all the way to Salina, Kansas. On Tuesday we drove to St. Louis, Missouri and the travel was really easy until we were about 20 miles away from our hotel. St. Louis had received 10 inches of snow which is very unusual for the area. We sat in traffic for 3.5 hours. Fortunately, with so many of us in the van, we found ways to entertain ourselves. We played cards, twenty questions, hot seat, and several other games to help us get to know each other a little better.

Wednesday was our last day of travel. We went through Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky and then arrived safely to our new home in Caryville, Tennessee. Upon arrival, we met our sponsor Tony who works with the Cumberland Trail Conference. We settled into our house which consists of three rooms, two bathrooms, a living area and a kitchen. It is working out really well and I am looking forward to getting out and exploring the state park where our house is located.

~ Amanda

Video: Spike Travel

Video: Getting Ready

Corps Training Institute

It was really hard to say goodbye to my family and friends at home, but by the first night on campus in Denver I knew that these people I was meeting were going to make a great family for me for the next 10 months.

Parts of CTI (Corps Training Institute) were a little grueling for all of us. I thought that I had finally escaped college and classes, just to find myself in a hot and crowded room once again. However, we learned a number of very important things, such as how to drive a 15-passenger van, how to perform CPR, how to set up shelters after a disaster, and tool safety. Most importantly, we learned a lot about each other.

I have never before been exposed to such a diverse group of people and I have never enjoyed any group of people more. To be honest, the most learning for me during CTI actually took place in my dorm room getting to know my roommate, a wonderful girl who happens to be more opposite of me than anybody I have ever encountered. The girls in my hall encompassed every walk of life and we now found ourselves all living under the same roof. In a situation like that it seems like conflicts and clashes are unavoidable; but, our differences just made us all the more intrigued in each other. I found myself drawn to everybody around me by our differences, wanting to know everything about them, wanting to know all about their lives at home, wanting to get a glimpse into worlds that I have never seen and that these people right in front of me had lived. I felt as though I was able to travel around the United States just in those first few days by hearing about everybody’s hometown and all their stories.

The month in Denver during CTI was more fun for me than I could have ever imagined, meeting people that I am looking forward to knowing the rest of my life, exploring downtown Denver and Boulder, and basically just learning life skills while I had the time of my life. I walked away from CTI heading off on our first SPIKE having already gotten more out of AmeriCorps than I ever hoped for.

~Katie