I've moved!

I'm writing to you from Idabel, Oklahoma.  We moved, yesterday.  Coming to Oklahoma this round we knew we were going to be camping the first few weeks, with the AmeriCorps NCCC requirement that we would moved to an air conditioned location in a timely manner.  The temperature keeps rising and with the possibility of us going on fire, AmeriCorps wanted to make sure we had an air conditioned place to sleep at night.  I'm not complaining!  I was sick of going to sleep and sweating in my tent.  Our last week has been eventful, not necessarily in the work, but in everything else.

Tuesday night we had a storm!  Living in a house, I maybe wouldn't have even woken up for it, but living in a tent is a different story.  I woke up to Alex shining his light through the screen door on my tent telling me to wake up, that Nick (my TL) wanted us all in the camper.  I headed down to the camper and saw the radar on Nick's phone and knew we were in for some not-so-fun weather.  About 30 minutes after he had us all corralled in our itty bitty camper we got hit with rain, thunder and lighting that lasted for 2 hours or so.  The thunder was so LOUD!  Around 3:30 it subsided and we all ventured back to our tents to assess the damage.  I had some water in my tent, but nothing too bad, so I went to bed and work the next day.  When I got back from work on Wednesday, Melinda and I realized we were definitely hit the hardest.  Both of our tents were soaked.  And we were two of the people that prepared the most for the rain, we had tarps tucked under our tents and our belongings in bags.  Some of my team mates didn't even have tarps and their tents were dry.  We were definitely jealous.

Wednesday we were supposed to get another storm (this time with hail), so Nick decided we were packing an overnight bag and getting out of our tents.  We went to one of the work centers and parked our sleeping bags in the garage where the Type 6 Engine usually resides.  It was basically a team sleep over.  We played cards and had made the best of it.

Friday (yesterday) we moved!  We are now in Idabel, about 90 minutes south of our prior housing.  We're still in the Ouachita National Forest working for the USDA Forest Service, but now we're focusing more on working with the south office.  We've met and worked with all of the south employees previously on prescribed burns so it's basically just a new location to us.  We report Monday at 10 am for a staff meeting, and we'll see where the week takes us from there.  We still have our team in the computer system to go on a detail, so it could happen anytime.  And with the way wild fires are going this summer, I feel like we could get that call any day.

Internet is much more accessible now.  We're a 5 minute drive to it, as opposed to the previous hour drive so I'll do my best to post a bit more frequently.  And I'm going to try to remember to put my camera in my pocket every morning to spice these posts up with pictures!

It's currently 92 degrees.

As promised, here are the pictures of the 3 mile trail around the lake at our camp ground.

Most parts are right along the water.  Sometimes I get nervous I'm going to trip and end up in the water!

This is the first of 4 bridges I encounter on the run.

The second and third bridges have great views.

This is the view!

And the final bridge, a cute little one I always make sure to watch my footing on.

In other news, It's a scorcher outside today.  I've never been so glad to have an ice machine at my disposal.  We're on call for any fires this weekend, so anywhere we go we have our fire gear with us.  Last night we went to The Avengers (Janet: the movie you recommended wasn't in the theater :(  )  and we all had our fire packs, nomex clothing, and fire boots lined up in the back of the truck.  It actually makes me feel like a real fire fighter.  Who woulda thought this would be my life!?!

Mail

Just in case you feel so inclined:


Nathalie Besse
c/o AmeriCorps NCCC
52175 US Highway 59
Hodgen, Ok 74939

Next year I get a green shirt.

As mentioned previously, I'm going to be a Team Leader for AmeriCorps NCCC Class 19 based out of Denver, Colorado.  I guess I'll have to keep the blog going for another year, except this time you'll see me in a green AmeriCorps shirt.

I'm very grateful as quite a few people applied, and there were only 9 spots to fill.  I feel even more grateful that I received my first choice, to be in the office.  I love AmeriCorps, but would go crazy leading a team for the full 10 months.  As an office Team Leader, I will work in the office for first, second, and fourth rounds and then take a team out in the field third (shuffle) round.

My area of concentration with will be Operations (ops).  I had my choice between media and ops, and took ops without a second thought.  I will work with Brian and Paul who are in charge of all the supplies (from vehicles to tools), Eric who is the finance guy, and Vanessa in member support.  Should be a nice variety.

The blog may not be as exciting with work related tasks, but I'll have plenty of time to explore Denver, which I am pretty excited about.

Oklahoma Week 2

I wish I could start this post off with a picture I took of the 3 mile trail around our lake at the campground, but I seem to have forgotten my camera back at camp.  Instead, I'll start off reviewing our work week, which just isn't quite as pretty.  Anyway...

We became the U.S. Forest Service maintenance crew this week.  Not exactly the most exciting thing in the world, but we were occupied and working so we were happy.  Tasks included trail maintenance on the above mentioned trail, priming and painting a water tower, and lawn mowing at the campground.

I'm actually pretty happy with our trail maintenance task.  The trail around the lake is beautiful, but I was always absolutely freaked out on it because of the overgrowth.  I thought some rabid animal was going to come out of the brush and bite my ankles.  Now it's maintained and I have been taking advantage.  It's tough after a hot work day to get my butt in workout clothes and around the lake, but I feel great after.  And let's be real, I walk a lot more of it than I run.  But it's the effort that counts, right?!?  I'll get the pictures up soon.

Another AmeriCorps NCCC team is working twenty minutes from us in Heavener, Oklahoma so it's been fun to have some friends nearby.  Last weekend we had them over for a barbeque, and Wednesday night we went over to their place for dinner.  This will sadly end soon though, as we move 1.5 hours south come Friday.  Supposedly we're moving into air-conditioned Oklahoma State University housing.  We don't know many details, besides we're moving on Friday.  I'll believe it when I see it.  Although I am excited, camping has been great but it's getting a bit too warm for this Minnesota girl.  The past couple of nights I have abandoned the comfort of my two sleeping pads for the ground inside my tent, it's much cooler.  When I wake up around 3 am I move back to the sleeping pad because it's cooled down enough, but I'd rather just sleep through the whole night.  Conundrum.  It'll be over soon.  

As you may have inferred, we never headed to Arizona to fight the wildfires there.  They had them contained enough by Monday that they didn't need the reinforcements.  We're still in the system though, so we could be called for any fire anywhere in the states.  Our sponsor, Justin, says it's a decent probability we'll get called.  We'll see.  

Speaking of fires, we're definitely on call this weekend.  Being Memorial Day weekend with hot and dry conditions, they told us to be ready just in case.   The campground started filling up this past Wednesday/Thursday and as of Friday night last night, it's pretty well full.  We've got neighbors!!  We're keeping our fire packs and boots in the trucks so we're ready.  We're all itching to get some real fire experience.  

Stay tuned next week to find out if we get a fire this weekend!

Oklahoma. Part 2.

My round in Eudora ended with less than fireworks.  The rest of my team loved the project and really felt like we were making a difference.  Not so for myself, I felt like I spent the mornings babysitting 20 toddlers.  Alas, it's over and done and I have moved onto more interesting things.

Transition week in Denver was fun, albeit a bit overwhelming.  It was my first real transition week, as we missed the last one while we were in Branson doing disaster relief, and I found it mediocre.  It was great to see friends from other teams and especially Paul, but there was a lot of spare time that was spread out and in result didn't end up in enough time to actually go anywhere and do anything.  A few highlights included an awesome yoga class at a place in Cherry Creek called Kindness Yoga.  It was a tad expensive coming in at $10 (a days wage), but it was great to get off campus and get my yoga on.  The big highlight of the week was seeing the Denver Symphony Orchestra.  A group of  or so of us headed down to the Performing Arts Complex with our fingers crossed hoping we'd be able to snag some student rush tickets. We were in luck!  We were able to schmooze with the ticket guy and get $80 seats for $10!

It was a special performance that included a full chorus for the 2nd half of the performance.

Paul, Kat, and I at the symphony.  I got a haircut!

As you can infer from the blog post title, I am currently back in Oklahoma.  My team and I are living at Cedar Lake campground and it's been a fun experience.  

This is my new home.

We have a group campsite and I was able to stake my claim to a spot in the corner where I am able to find some solitude at the end of our long days.  I get my own tent, which is awesome.  They are pretty roomy, but would get cramped quickly with two people plus belongings.

While in Eudora, I ordered a hammock from REI.  I love it.  It's so great to relax in and is so unbelievably comfortable.

Our group bathhouse, gotta love it.  Mosquitoes and all.

Monday my team finds out if we've been assigned to detail in Arizona to fight the fires that have broken out there.  We'd drive to Fort Worth and then fly out.  Our sponsors said there's about a 60% chance we'd get assigned, but my gut instinct is that we'll be staying in Oklahoma.  

Other exciting news, I received a Team Leader position for next year!  Monday I find out my exact job, but I'm pretty sure I get to be an office TL, which was my first choice!  I'm super excited about it.

My internet time is about out, but I'll do my best to write again soon!

Round 3

Round 3 is flying by.

I'm in Eudora, Arkansas working at two different schools and at the J. Austin White Cultural Center, which is an after school hang out of sorts.

I work in a classroom of 20 pre-schoolers in the morning, and oh boy, are they a handful.  In the afternoons I switch to a 1st grade room and some evenings I take my turn at the cultural center.

Overall things are going well, but I'm excited to get back to Oklahoma for fire season soon.

I'll sum up the past couple of weeks in pictures:

We went fishing.  I'm the only one that caught any keepers.  

This is the road I run on.  Pretty boring.  I can see our house pretty much the entirety of my run.

An old building across from the Center.

Arkansas does have some nice sunsets.  This is our backyard.

We had to drop one of our members off at the Little Rock airport.  That meant I got to see Leigh and she took me to Central High School in Little Rock.

I spend time in the tree in the backyard (see above picture) reading.  Oh, and check our my new shoes, I love them!