Your Time is Running Out.

I think I might be on the very same computer that I was on when I posted my very first blog in California.  If not I am still going to pretend it is just for coincidence sake.

Well here I am back on McClellan Air Force base spending my days doing what I can to close out ten months of service.  You'd think it would just be a matter of turning in our fire packs and getting a pat on the back from our region director but no, it is so much more than that.  These last ten days are chocked full of reflections, social activities, and last ditch chances to say goodbye to all the people we have lived, worked, and laughed beside in this service year.  To say that its a period of time in which you can feel a little overwhelmed and drained is a understatement.  That feels strange to say since so much of my schedule is free to do as I wish on base but I suppose that doesn't mean I'm not busy.  I think my free time is when my mind runs the fastest.  It isn't enough to just sit in my room all day.  It almost feels like a necessity to soak up as much of this experience as possible before time runs out. 

Last night I took a walk around McClellan.  Despite how little time I spent here I believe it is going to be the place I miss the most.  For me I think this base embodies everything Americorps NCCC was about.  I think that my teammates would probably laugh about me saying that though.  While time on base is something somewhat dear to me, I can understand that it is also an excruciating time of meetings, red tape, and inactivity for myself and everyone else.  I can't help but acknowledged that this place is where my journey began and where I got to take a little break in between my adventures and for that I can help but feel a warm feeling for this place.

I think it'll take time for me to miss Eldorado.  Sadly our debrief with our Unit Leader about the project did not go well despite our attempts to do make a compliment sandwich.  We'd say something that was critical of the project and then try to lessen the blow by saying something positive or vice versa.  It didn't work too well though.  I believe that in the end Silver 5 made the mistake of not being up front enough about how unfitting the project was from the start.  Maybe Eldorado was a place that should never have had a team in the first place but that doesn't mean we all regret it.  We worked hard, did the best we could, and have the lean bodies and the belt buckles to prove it.

In the next few days I plan to use my free time to make a list of hints and tips for potential and upcoming NCCC goers.  Just little ideas to make this very unique lifestyle a little easier. 

Until next time.

Burning Faster.

In one week I will be packing up all the junk I acquired in my four month stay in Eldorado National Forest and will begin my return to McClellan Air Force Base. In just two weeks I will be saying goodbye to the people who have been my travel and work companions these last ten months.  In three weeks I will be moving my life to Farragut, Tennessee to being an all new adventure.  An experience that sometimes felt like it would never end and at other times flew by me in a blur is winding down quickly in the way that all great adventures do.  It is hard to put ten months in a little box and wrap a bow around it thus placing it in the closure pile...but blogging seems like a tiny step towards doing so.

To leave Eldorado alone seems like a big leap from something both comfortable and tiresome for me.  I must say that though I will miss many aspects of this place from the moment we leave, it will take time to miss the experience of cutting line for hours under the sun.  As I have said in my previous blogs, Eldorado was a difficult project for me to encapsulate positively at this moment but I am sure that I will appreciate the experience I had here so much more when I can look back in retrospect.  Despite my challenges here I cannot overlook the fact that I had the amazing opportunity to take a path I otherwise would have never even pondered taking post-college all while doing so in the beautiful mountains of Northern California.  One day I will get to tell someone that I was a Wildland Firefighter on the opposite side of the country from which I hail and I will feel good about having done so.

Nostalgia stuff aside my life in Eldorado has been pretty good as of late.  Yesterday we were honored in front the Forest's staff.  We received some pretty awesome belt buckles and a lot of hearty 'thanks'. My teammate Kaitlin does a much better job of chronicling  Silver 5's work than I do.  If I had her blogging skills there would have been more than one single post for June, ha.

I hope to write more as my service year comes to an end.  Until next time.