Virginia alas!

La Flama Blanca begins the 23 hour journey to Cape Charles, VA

Our Lodge

Double toaster/preloaded cabinets

Fireplace, check

River 7

Deer

Ever wonder what they feed people in comas? This is it.

Down the hatch

well?

Nature trail

Pine Trees

Nature trail

 After settling into our lodge last night and unpacking, we began our first day of work with the Nature Conservancy this morning in Cape Charles.  Sam, the Park Police manager gave us a tour of the area, as well as a nice history of the park which was pretty fascinating.  When we were by the Chesapeake Bay he told us about an eagles nest that was not far from where our lodge is, and right on que came swooping down the eagle attempting to snatch a fish from the water, which is the first time I've ever seen one in the wild.

After lunch we began working in Kiptopeke State Park, taking down pine trees and other small shrubbery that was infringing upon the nature trail.  I worked with Kari, Ruth, Ashlyn and Taylor, and we were led by Park Ranger Daniel Turner who loved to chainsaw down everything he could.  Felt good to work outdoors again, although it was cool (30's all day) the sun kept us warm, along with the hard work of course.

By the end of the day everybody was exhausted, and we ventured off to the food lion as we were all starving as well.  By the time we got back it was past 7:30 and upon exiting the van I looked up to see more stars than I've ever seen before.  It was truly awesome, Long Island is just too inhabited to allow such a view to take place.  Even the Milky Way was visible I could not get over how many stars there were.  I'm looking forward to spending a month here and enjoying every night I can.

Oh, and to explain the coma food.  Remember MLK day when I volunteered at an elementary school? Well they had a lot of things they were trying to get rid of such as medicines, and other random stuff.  Apparently Liquid nutrition or "tube food" as my team calls it, was one of those things.  It's basically a canned liquid meal filled with nutrients, protein, fiber, carbs, and other awesome stuff made for people who can't eat in a hospital  and rely on getting fed through a feeding tube.  Can you believe they were going to toss away 3 full cases of this stuff? I was pretty outraged myself.  Granted I am not hospitalized, I do love a quality nutritious meal which this provides.  The taste is left to be desired though.

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.

Missing Nawlin's already

Another Spike is officially over as I am writing this from Vicksburg, Mississippi back on AmeriCorps South East campus.  After arriving back yesterday (Friday) afternoon it's still sinking in that I am no longer in New Orleans. Truly an amazing city consisting of people who really love New Orleans and want what's best for it.

Mudding the ceiling

Putting up sheetrock

Measuring sheetrock with a Rosemont volunteer

Darren Sharper and Roman Harper

Darren Sharper

Union volunteer group with Roman Harper

Roman Harper signs Jim's nailgun

Last weekend in New Orleans

Yet again another Spike fly's by as my 2 month journey in New Orleans is coming to a close. Next Friday my team will be heading back to campus in Vicksburg, Mississippi (which as always is bittersweet).

Alright photo time to recap the week

Kari, Will and a Union Volunteer discussing sheetrock

Guns found inside house we're working on

Let the sheet rocking begin

Will secures the foundation

Jen hangs Sheetrock on the walls once ceilings are done

Sgt Johnson, an injured military officer whose house we're working on stops by during our lunch break

Union Volunteers with Sgt Johnson with the Flag that made it through Katrina

Sheetrocking the walls > Sheetrocking the ceiling

oh willy

Charter school ISP, Taylor and I hung all the "motivation" signs

Roman Harper signed my Protein shaker!

Roman Harper and myself

Cutting out insolation

Will, Jen, Kari, Ruth and I with our Union volunteers

Clearly it's been a pretty hectic week.  PNOLA had 17 Volunteers from Union college come down for the week, working with us at Sgt Johnsons house all week.  This house was a high priority project as the Saints invested a very generous donation towards this house being completed.  Roman Harper of the Saints made a special appearance at this site in his way to give back towards the community.  Articles about Harpers contribution at this site, as well as other Saints can be seen @ http://unitedwaynola.org/hope/ as well as http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2010/12/new_orleans_saints_safeties_da_1.html. 

Although we have to work tomorrow, I do not mind at all.  Besides the fact that more Saints players could be making an appearance (here's hoping), I have learned new skills this week including sheetrocking, mudding, and taping.  Hopefully we will be able to prime the walls before the end of next week so we can see this house really come together....

Some other fun pictures I found from our last Kaboom build

PNOLA + AmeriCorps

Team leader Chris Money

PNOLA site supervisor Chris

PNOLA Grace

Jim helps a fellow volunteer build a bench

Team Giraffe oh yes

Oh and muy importante! I found out where I will be headed after Christmas break! January 19th River 7 will be headed to work with The Nature Conservancy in Charlottesville, Virginia! Essentially our project will consist of the following:
    Teams will assist in a variety of important conservation and natural resource projects on the Eastern Shore of Virginia, to include removal of tree shelters, planting of native shrubs, preparing sites for tree planting and habitat restoration and supervising community volunteers.
We will be there for a month and then relocate to Hattiesburg, Mississippi to work with Recover, Rebuild, Restore Southeast Mississippi from 2/24/11 until 3/29/11.  This project consists of:

Rehabilitation of a historic 10,080 square foot boarding house to be used as volunteer housing. Team will also work with R3SM clients, the indigent, elderly and disabled, in minor home repairs.

So there you have it, Spike #3 is a split round and I'm pretty excited to be in Virginia and closer to the family, can't get much more north than that!

Edit: While in Virginia I will not be staying in Charlottesville, instead I will be residing in a cabin at one of the state parks closer to the shore.

Sick day

Siding completed

Mas siding

Remember that first house we demo'd?

Carpentry

Look at that foundation... stable as a rock!

December 1rst in NOLA

Church siding on roof

Church 2nd floor

Church 1rst floor

Carpentry work in church

Will nailing up house wrap

Myself holding up house wrap for Will to nail

Perfection

Pink wood for closet

A lot has went down after returning from Thanksgiving break.  I have been working at numerous sites trying to accomplish as much as possible to finish up these houses for PNOLA before Christmas break.  I've done a good amount of siding this week at different locations as you can see the church and house siding is just about complete.  Also I have been getting to do some carpentry work such as stabilizing the foundation and building closets with my boy Cain.

Taking a quick peek back at my JMU volunteers, I have acquired some new photos of working with them last week.

Volunteers anxiously awaiting paint in their trays

Crazy kids!

End of the day

Celeb spotting! Steve Zahn

Yesss my list of celebs continues to grow as Steve Zahn was gracious enough to come take a picture with us between filming Treme Season 2, an HBO documentary.

As the title suggests, I am sick today... So I'm taking my first sick day as my throat and head are killing me.  Who would have thought it would be possible to get sick down here when the weather is still so warm?

Monday the next group of volunteers arrives and works with us for a week which we are all looking forward to.  Apparently putting up sheetrock will be the major task for the upcoming week which will be a new experience for me.