Diary of a Site Visit: Day 1

So, seeing as my mother mentioned that she has to say things like: "No, Ali's not dead, but I only know this because her brother told me and I received a strange text about airport security" I decided that it was about time I update my blog.

To give y'all a little insight into my life/job, I present:

Diary of a Site Visit

Monday
7:00 am - Alarm goes off
7:01 am - Cynthia calls to tell me she has a CM who is too sick to go on mini-spike and needs to go to the doctor
7:58 am - Get to the office (both of my housemates/fellow UDAs are already on the road for their site visits)
8:00 am - Greta calls to ask me to find work for a CM in her unit who didn't go to mini-spike because he has a sprained ankle
8:05 am - Arrange work for CM with Ed and Q, find out Bridget is already on the road to the doctor
8:11 am - Find out that Kelly Jane is going to Syracuse, so there is noone else to drive Cynthia's CM to the doctor
8:27 am - Pick CM up for work and arrange for Bridget to turn around to take other CM to doctor
8:55 am - Jimmy calls, thinking I am Cynthia (apparently not everyone got the memo about the phones being misprogrammed)
9:27 am - Finish printing off the last of the directions for my trip as Judd's CM meets me for her dentist appointment
9:43 am - Having picked up my stuff, we hit the road to PA
10:00 am - Cheer at the Pennsylvania border
10:49 am - Arrive at CM's dentist appointment in Coatesville, PA (near Lancaster)
11:30 am - Eric calls to let me know their sleeping arrangements have changed (seeing as it is inexplicably 7 degrees instead of the 33 it was the day before) and he needs me to pick up blue mats for him
11:32 am - Call Q to let him know I will be needing nine blue mats
12:00 pm - Dentist says that CM needs an emergency root canal (which is covered by our health plan... the cap that goes on it, however, is not)
12:02 pm - Grab my lunch and settle in with Superheroes and Philosophy and a peanut butter sandwich
12:07 pm - Call Judd to let him know what time we will be arriving at their spike site and get detailed directions
12:09 pm - Judd's phone cuts out (you see, there are still places in this world without cell phone reception and in NCCC we like to find them and work in them)
12:50 pm - Completing stage one of the root canal, CM sets up a follow-up appointment (oh, yes, another hour-long drive to the dentist is in my future) and we hit the road
1:00 pm - Stop for gas and so CM can buy a disposable camera
1:23 pm - Cheer at Maryland border
1:39 pm - Arrive at Camp Conowingo; luckily a maintenance worker finds us and we follow him back into the woods
2:18 pm - Finally succeed in hooking up with Eagle 5 (Judd) and hike into the trail that Eagle 3, Eagle 5 and Wolf 4 have been building; visit with CMs
3:02 pm - Hike back out and take CM's stuff to her spike housing
3:10 pm - Head back out on the road to The Point
3:37 pm - Arrive at The Point; pick up blue mats and print new directions
4:20 pm - Eric calls to confirm my arrival time; asks me to pick up smores stuff
4:23 pm - Leave The Point on the way to site visit #2
4:40 pm - Stop at Food Lion to get smores stuff and find a container of reduced fat Pringles on sale
4:47 pm - Back on the road
4:50 pm - Throw the third-eaten container of Pringles across the truck cabin so I can't reach them anymore
4:53 pm - Reach across the cabin to retrieve the Pringles
4:55 pm - Throw the half-eaten container of Pringles back across the cabin
4:58 pm - Cheer at Delaware border
5:07 pm - Get to Lums Pond State Park; drive through looking for van
5:12 pm - Call Eric to find out where exactly they are in the park; he tells me to look for the van, then realizes that the van isn't there because he has taken it out to run errands
5:15 pm - Find the team (in a room full of stuffed beavers and turtle tanks) and hang out until Eric and other CMs arrive
5:45 pm - Cook a dinner of chili and vegis on a Coleman camping stove; I brought corn bread to share from home
6:32 pm - Group excursion to the (unlit) bathroom to rinse dishes... you have no idea just how dark and ghetto fab this process was
7:00 pm - Head to another building to build a fire, do reflection activities and make smores
8:17 pm - Make a smore and head out
8:20 pm - Call Jory to let her know what time I will be arriving
8:23 pm - Arrive at park entrance to find I have been locked in; Call Eric, who gives me the code
8:39 pm - Defrost fingers and get on road after finally making lock work
9:05 pm - Cheer at Maryland border
9:30 pm - Arrive at Camp Pecometh; unload truck, make bed (sheet, blanket, tiger) and sit down to watch RENT with some members of Eagle 1
11:00 pm - Lights out and RENT off; read a bit of my Bible study by the glow of the bathroom door

Wow, this is long... and yet I find it to be informative/fun. So, if you like that little bit of Ali-age, stay tuned for Diary of a Site Visit: Day 2. Same Bat-time; same Bat-channel.

Peace y'all,
Ali