I feel as if I've turned into a temporary drifter. I haven't slept in the same place two nights in a row since March 5th. It has been exhilarating and exhausting. My last off shift I had an amazing opportunity to be flown out to Colorado for a meet and greet job interview for a full time year round position at a Christian Camp and Conference Center. Before anyone gets too excited, I am still waiting to hear the outcome but regardless of how it turns out, it was such an incredible experience.
I flew into Colorado Springs and since I don't remember anything from when I was out there as a kid (sorry Mom and Dad) I was in awe of the beauty that I found. The size of the mountains and the vast open spaces are such a unique combination that inspired a profound admiration. I stayed in Pueblo for a night, so thankful to sleep in a bed (it had been about 3 months)! And the next day drove to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. What a beautiful and yet random place! Afterwards, I traveled to the camp grounds and spent the next day and a half meeting people and getting acquainted with the grounds. As I said before, it was a really great experience. I traveled back to Asheville that Tuesday and went out into the woods on Wednesday.
My week at work started out hot right from the start. From 4p-12a me and one of my staff were occupied with a student who had attempted to run and we were trying to keep her safe. At one point my head had the unfortunate pleasure of being introduced to her water bottle, which ultimately resulted in a concussion. Like I said, my week started off hot. After a whole bunch of logistical things, the group, myself and one of my co-staff headed out to Panther Town for expo. We hiked to some cool campsites and the group did really well. It is always hard to only have one other staff, especially when you have 7 kids. Safe to say, I got very little down time. But my week was filled with lots of laughter and joy despite it all. The week also ended with a bang! Tuesday night somewhere around 12, I had finally crawled into my sleep bag and was just getting warm and toasty when not 200 ft from camp I could hear a bear clawing and scratching his way up our bear hang tree. Then a conversation something like this:
*Whisper* Staff: "Hey. Hey! There's a bear at the bear hang."
Me rolling over: Yeah, I know. I can hear it.
S: I think I'm going to go scare it away.
M: Uh, what?
S: Yeah. That will work right?
M: Um. It's a bear, I'm going to stay in my sleeping bag. I'd rather it eat our food than me.
S: It will be ok, I'll take my radio.
M: Wait, what? I'm pretty sure I'll hear you without a radio.
Then she was gone. Enter high anxiety and all senses heightened. I hear her clapping and shaking branches. Not 6 minutes later she is back.
M: Well?
S: I just looked a bear in the face. We locked eyes. And it wasn't scared of me.
M: Good thing you had your radio.
S: What now? Can I have the multitool? (There's a knife on it)
M: For what? It's like 6 inches long. We'd be dead if it was close enough to use it.
S: Should we hang our food? (We had been munching on food while working on paperwork and didn't hang our bear bags)
M: I think it found the food it's going to eat. It already walked past our food. And again, I'd rather it get my pack than me. But if you want to go out into the dark night with your food and a bear lurking somewhere, go ahead.
*Also keep in mind that at this point it is silent and we have no idea where the bear is. So yes, I was still very much anxious. And there is a lot of laughter going on between me and my co-staff because this situation is just kinda ridiculous*
S: Well.. sleep well I guess.
M: Ha! Yeah, you too.
Ironically, I did sleep great that night. I guess I was just too tired to care if a bear was going to eat me. If that doesn't tell you something about my job, than I don't know what would.
It was a great shift. It felt like 5 years since last Wednesday but a lot of really neat things happened within those 8 days.
Today I went out riding this morning and in a few hours I will be getting on a plane to head to Denver, CO. This time for a mini VK to see my best friend Clare! It has been almost a year since our last adventure together and I am so excited to hang out with her for the next few days.
So my drifter ways continue and the adventures and memories are worth it. I'll keep you all posted on my adventures as they unfold in front of me!
Until next time, "the world is full of good people, if you can't find one, be one."
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