Back from the Big D.

I’m back from the Dallas trip. It was a long week but we got a house built. We stayed at a camp where the sign on the way in says “Where people go to meet Jesus.” Well, I didn’t meet him but I did meet a bunch of other interesting people. I stayed in a bunkroom with 22 other dudes. I didn’t sleep worth a shit the first night but I discovered earplugs the next night (and worked my ass off during the day) and slept great the rest of the week. The bunkhouse smelled pretty foul by weeks end. Our days started with a 6:15 bus departure to the build site where we would have breakfast. Building would start at 8, lunch at noon, and dinner at 5:30 and buses departed for camp at 6. There was nothing but a slab on our site on Monday morning and by the end of the day Saturday the exterior (including landscaping) was complete and half the inside was done. We had a group of about 20 working on the house with 2 site leaders. We worked with Americorps groups from Austin, TX and Tuscaloosa, AL. We fell behind the first day but kept up with the other houses the rest of the week. Of the 20 people only about 12 worked construction regularly and 8 were full time office staff. Everyone got along fine for the most part. There were 20 houses built in total for the “Buildathon.” Ten houses were built exclusively by Americorps and ten houses were built by local volunteers. There were 300 or 400 people there everyday. Everyone got free food and amazingly it wasn’t that bad. The homeowner of our house (Shaquita) worked with us a little during the week and seemed very grateful to be getting the house. She gave everyone a hug at the end and collected our contact info. It’s nice to work with homeowners that appreciate the opportunity they are getting. It was a rough week physically with several ant bites, a blood blister on my foot, and whacking my fingers several times with the hammer. But it was worth it. On the final night they took us to the clubby part of downtown Dallas where we had dinner and got free admission into a bar where a bunch of local bands were playing (and they were actually good). Overall it was a good trip. The other Americorps just complained most of the time about everything but that’s not unusual. You would have thought they grew up at a country club to listen to the complaints. Oh well, I guess I’ll chalk it up to youth.


In other news, I would like to point out the Sox winning the series over the Cubs last weekend as usual. At least one Cub had some fight left in him. It would have been a sweep had Cotts not thrown the last game Black Sox style. It is also worth note that the Detroit Tigers currently own the best record in the majors, not too shabby. Let’s hope it holds up. I plan to attend the ACC baseball tourney here in Jacksonville this week. I can’t wait to hear the ping of the bat. I hope to write about the Boys & Girls Club mini-golf course progress in the next post.