Back to business

Patrick House, winner of The Biggest Loser season 10

I'm back!  After a relaxing winter break at home, as well as a 2 week transition of training in Vicksburg it is  once again time to embark upon another Spike.  Tomorrow morning River 7 will be heading out bright and early to Virginia to begin working with the Virginia Nature Conservancy.  Travel time is estimated @ 18 hours which will be split up between the next two days. The only good news that derives from this will be the hotel accommodations provided for us Thursday night; complimentary breakfast here I come!

While on campus the past week of training focused on life after AmeriCorps and MLK day.  Crazy how fast this program is going by and how much has been accomplished in such a short time.  To honor MLK day we served at a local elementary school improving the environment for children from inside to out.  Working along side local community volunteers tasks included pulling weeds, installing insulation, removing thousands of staples from doors, painting, and other various activities.

For an ISP about 20 of us volunteered at the Vicksburg 10k run/5k walk early Sunday where we ran into local celebrity Patrick House, winner of Biggest Loser.  Myself, Brittany, Sam, and Mario waited at the finish line to tag the runners with their placements and complete their race forms.  This was not the easiest task, needless to say plenty of them were exhausted by the end of the race but I give them a lot of credit for completing it.

Alright I better get back to packing, next update will be from VA!

edit: May not have internet for a while, we're headed to a pretty desolate place... time to put Verizon's nationwide coverage to the test

edit #2: Wednesday night arrived in Asheville, NC after a 13 hour journey in the 15 passenger van. Heading to Cape Charles tomorrow, should be another 8 hours.