In Oregon Trail you never forded the river unless you absolutely had to. Many an Oregon Trail joke has been made this summer, let alone this week. Earlier this summer I went Buffalo Hunting. I suppose wandering has just made me feel like I am on the open trail. Except with less dysentery and no snake bites thus far. It is amazing who gets my OT references and who does not. If I have to explain it to you then may you should just ask The Great Google, ha ha ha.

So what happened today on my version of the Oregon Trail? Or what fantastic things did I learn? I had my Chi recentered, which was interesting. We also accomplished a large portion of assessments and knocked out large areas of the grid. I left myself with a more manageable goal for today, to just accomplish door to door assessments. We have settled on a collaboration between the Southern Baptists Chainsaw Crews, Americorp, and TR. Americorp is manning the phones, TR will perform assessments, and SB will do the cutting. The SB has a pretty large number of chainsaw trained people. They have also been doing this for a number of years. We will reach that stage in the coming years. It is a great partnership that has left us ready to pull out tomorrow. The Southern Baptists have local crews who plan to continue working the assessments we have already received. Tomorrow morning the rest of us are pulling up stakes. I always find it comforting when different non-governmental organizations can work together as a team.

As we draw to an end on this short lived operation I am not sure what is in store for me next. I honestly was excited to hit the open road on my own, but now I don’t know where to go. It hurts my heart a little, wondering what the next stop in the road is for me. Without an operation, or a job, or an apartment to call my own… what do I do now?

You thought I had this all figured out, didn’t you? It’s been so peachy keen thus far, because I have just been following the storms. Now is the real challenge. Now I will really start figuring out who I am. And you know what… I’ll figure it out tomorrow. Goodnight!

Signing off from Independence, MO

I like to set lofty goals for myself. That should be all I write for today, but I will explain.

I get easily frustrated when things don’t follow the plan of “attack” as I wish them to. That day last week with the chainsaws was frustrating and infuriating to my pride. I was only relieved when I discovered it was not my own error. So today I set a goal to accomplish a whole sector, approximately 2×2 miles, give or take.

We had two missions, create a sector search and respond promptly to any calls received at the call center. We started off with a short list of calls to follow up on, and then intended to start our sector search. We received a phone call shortly in to our first assessment to check out a cross roads and see if the tree was truly blocking the road or if we needed to get a homeowner to sign off on assistance. When we arrived at this cross road we found a tree tangled up in downed power lines laying into a lane of traffic. One thing we do in TR is ensure that we don’t create additional casualties. After cautiously walking around the scene we reached out to the local jurisdiction for support from the power company. In the mean time we blocked off traffic so no one was running over the power lines. The tree had been mostly demolished by large vehicles on the main road, but the power/telephone lines were still a concern.

While we were waiting for the power company to arrive, vehicles were having to move around us in to the second lane. My partner, CD, and I knew the risk of where we were positioned, so we were keeping our eyes peeled. Then something happened. The “Trail” became completely blocked. A car swerved past us and came to a sudden stop about 60 feet in front of us blocking the open lane. I will admit I lost my cool as I saw vehicles hurtling past us towards this vehicle. We had no idea why he stopped, but his electronics suddenly started going haywire. As a neighbor ran out in to the road to help the man, we realized they were moving off the road directly under the potentially live wires. Our medical training kicked in and we jumped out and ran shouting for them to stop. The vehicle stopped just short of the wires. As we reached the vehicle the neighbor explained he didn’t know what was going on, but he just had to help the guy get out of the road.

As we started talking to the gentleman we discovered that he has dementia and at that moment could not recall how to drive his car. CD, who has nursing skills, stepped in and started doing a basic assessment. We called for assistance with the gentleman just as the power company showed up. They appeared unconcerned about the downed lines, but took them up anyway. Our policy is better to be safe than sorry. Local first responders arrived to assist the gentleman in getting home.

Finally our trail was cleared and we were able to keep on moving. By this time it was lunch and we stopped for a bite. We weren’t moving as quickly as I hoped and the realization that we were not going to complete the sector left me feeling frustrated… again. We did the right thing, and doing the right thing often alters plans. I can tell myself this over and over again, but I really wanted MY plan to work. I guess I need to not focus on my own plan as much. It was tough because we were a small team of three today, and a few extras joined us for an evening jaunt.

This Op doesn’t feel like the other ones yet, because I am the only person not local. The LDS church has opened it’s conference center to the three organizations that in the area helping. I am grateful to be able to stay there, but I miss being with my TR people. I guess this just means I get much better rest!

Last story for the day and I will let you go. In the midst of all my frustration I needed to do laundry. The machine at the center wouldn’t work, which I found out after I put the soap on my clothes, so CD offered to take my clothes home and wash them yesterday. At around midnight he found his washing machine having a conniption fit and refusing to finish cleaning my clothes. They were sopping wet and he took them outside to wring out before having to dry them 3 or 4 times. CD is a rock star and I am so grateful for his patience in the midst of a frustrating situation. I now have clean underwear and a chapped ass because of all the jokes being made. It’s all good, in this case I know they tease me because they love me. It’s family.

Signing off from Independence, MO.

PS, Can you see I am going for the Oregon Trail theme now?

It’s hard to move on from different adventures in life. Then again, it may be extremely easy. Often it is neither one nor the other, but is extremely difficult on both fronts. Here we have demobilized Operation Double Trouble, a job well done for TR, the amazing people I volunteer with and for the communities we were able to assist in Texas.

While on an operation we ride this emotional high. The high of seeing friends who live at a distance, making new friends, integrating in to a new community (or two), and being able to do some really positive work for people who are in need. As we shuffled off to the airport those of us from R7 were already planning the steps for the next operation we were rolling out back home. Mama C, JS, B, and I are all tired, but we keep on moving. Simultaneously other volunteers have moved home to their respective regions to stand up their own operations due to severe weather.

It is really hard to determine why we do what we do, because it is so multifaceted. It is the looks on the faces of homeowners we have helped, and the warm fuzzies that each of us volunteers feels inside at knowing we serve an important purpose in life. Saying goodbye to so many people this morning was sad. There were many promises to visit and wishes of safe travels. I know that with what I am doing now I could truly visit these amazing people, whereas before the better promise was of seeing them on the next operation. I love the friendships and acquaintances I make on our operations, but I truly wish I could get to know each of them on a deeper level. It is thoughts like this that build the wanderers journey.

Our exhaustion was at a high after two airplane rides and crossing fingers that the tech kit did not get left behind. There was the moment when the bright orange case did not show up on the conveyor belt and the awkward discussion that followed went something like this:

Me: “Excuse me, but my travelling companion went to get the car and she has the checked bag receipt for a giant orange….”

Airline Attendant: “I THINK I SAW THAT!”

At which point she took me to the elevator and opened the doors to reveal our giant orange tech kit which is apparently too heavy or fragile for the standard baggage claim. I just found it funny that I didn’t get out more than “giant orange” and she knew what I was talking about.

We picked up our luggage and our giant orange tech kit and loaded up. Mama C and I opted to go straight to the next operation, to determine the extent of the work. By the end of this very long day we have determined we will be continuing assessment operations tomorrow to determine the extent of the damage due to straight line winds in Independence, MO.

We had a few good laughs coming up with a name, one that was suggested was “Buck Stopper”, which I heard as Buck Stuffer (my ears are acting up again… YAY FLOOD CRUD!). I vehemently refused to let them call the operation that as it would be a terrible name. After about 30 minutes of joking around it dawned on them that I had misheard and they set me straight explaining that name. In the end National decided that it was Operation Drowned Oxen (my vote was Oregon Trail, but they went a little more comical).

I think I will be here past the upcoming holiday. Should be interesting to be working in Independence on Independence Day! I’m exhausted, but it is a good kind of exhaustion. I have to keep going though, because people are in need. With that in mind I will sign off for the night and get some much needed rest.

Signing off from Independence, MO and Operation Drowned Oxen