Thank God for hometowns

So, last week I told a little white lie, I was not really in Lorton when I posted, I was on the train on the way home for the weekend! I surprised my favorite 10 year old for her birthday.  I was on hour 1 of a 10 hour Amtrak train ride from DC to South Station.  Let me tell you, I probably will not ever take a train 10 hours again unless I am heavily medicated.  It was not fun, but getting into Boston at 8am on Saturday morning was so worth it.  Mom and Dad picked me up since they were the ONLY people who knew I was coming home.  I won't lie, I may or may not have shed a few tears walking off the train to go see them, I was that excited.  We drove home and I thought Bridget would be asleep still, but obviously she was up watching animal planet snuggling on the couch, just like I left her in February.  Mom walked in with Dad before me and told Bridget they brought her an early birthday present, that's where I came in.  The look of pure shock on her cute face was worth the 10 hours, the personal day, and worth the wait for the past 4 months.  That was the hug I needed the most and it lasted a good 5 minutes.  I stayed home for the weekend until Monday afternoon.  I took my first personal day Monday so I could enjoy Bridget's birthday Sunday, recital the same day, catching up with friends I have missed a lot, visiting MaryKathryn and Bridget in school, seeing my 8th graders who I have missed a lot, and catching up with my family who I have missed more than words can say.  Surprising them all was just as fun, Paul's reaction was great with some profanity, MK screamed on the phone, and Bobby couldn't have been more perfect.  Surprising people may be my new favorite thing...watch out.  Thank God for hometowns! (another Carrie reference FYI, great new song)



Me and my Bridgie.



Tuesday was back to work as usual.  Going home was just the little push I needed to feel like I am ready to push through work until summer break.  We were still working on boardwalks.  There are 5 in total for the entire trail (1.3 or so miles).  We worked Tuesday to Friday on these boardwalks, and let me tell you, we worked HARD.  I actually put in the lowest amount of hours this past week because of my personal day, only by 3 or 4 hours or so.  And by lowest, I put in 60 hours this week.  Wednesday-Friday were all 12+ hours.  Sickening huh?  I wouldn't change it for the world. 

A boardwalk before...



The same boardwalk after!

 By Friday, our last day in Lorton, we finished all 5 boardwalks!  We were so proud of ourselves because we started them last week and finished them all this week.  In order to do 2 of the 5, we had to carry FULL sized telephone poles.  Yes, full.  We didn't cut them at all, we carried the entire 20' and 23' poles.  We carried them as a team one step at a time.  How many times in your life can you say YOU'VE lifted a full telephone pole?  My count is up to 2, no biggie though.  Friday was our last day with Marc the sarcastic Ranger. We worked until 6pm to get everything done.  Our trail is just about finished, but another volunteer group is coming soon to help Marc finish the trail.  We did a lot of hard work and it was a lot of fun learning a new skill.  Saturday was used to clean the van, the house, and to get ready for our departure Sunday for part 2 of our spike. 


River 10 moving full telephone poles...beasts

Part 2 takes place in Hattiesburg Mississippi, y'all.  We started our travel Sunday and drove for 8 hours.  We stopped in Asheville, North Carolina for the night.  Today we continued our trip for another 9 and 1/2 hours to get to Hattiesburg.  In Hattiesburg we are working with R3SM, which means Recover, Rebuild, Restore Southeast Mississippi.  We are building floor 2 of 2 in a volunteer housing facility.  Our housing we are building will help house up to 60 volunteers that come to Mississippi to help rebuild it from Katrina hitting.  We will be living in floor 1 that a team from our campus helped build last round and we will be building floor 2.  It is going to be absolutely awesome.  We are ready to move on and start to build and do construction.  We just arrived in Hattiesburg today at our new home, Big Blue if you will (the houses name) and we are ready to take on a new part of spike 2. 

That is all for now.  I will fill you all in on my adventures this week sometime!