Friday, January 20 Brandon and Juju

So today, dad got up extra early to make the entire bunch a thing of pancakes. He woke up earlier than mom and aunt and got all the credit for making us some bomb pancakes, but he was too humble to take all the credit. We went off for our final service day in our favorite place ever, Katie’s Landing. Being the environmentally friendly bunch that we are, we all piled into the magic school bus and were squished between each others gear and legs. Immediately after we arrived on scene, the group became fragmented and we were forced to split up. Half of us went down by the water to help the nice volunteer couple clear out some vines and nasty palm trees, while the cooler group of kids kept on fighting the evil vines that have been mentioned thoroughly in our previous blogs. Mom (Jill) got super excited when she got the idea to turn the day into a movie day and started video taping everything we did and forcing us to dance, smile, and wave. Some of us, Juju, happily obliged and began showing off some dance moves for the camera, credit to Dad for bringing his speakers and playing a bomb a$$ playlist.

Noon finally came around and we all shuffled down to the water to enjoy our PB&J sandwiches (for the 7^th day in a row). As expected, shortly after eating, many of the members fell asleep by the river, you know how kids can be. Some of us were woken from our slumber (except for Elena) when the aforementioned “GOAT” showed up. Scott informed us of his plan to “take care” of one of the pesky neighbors with his trusty hand gun, but we all laughed it off knowing how much of a jokester Scott can be. Scott left after thanking us for all of our hard work, and our naps soon resumed.

We slaved away for another hour and a half before Mom and Dad finally called it quits, much to the joy of all of the children. Before saying goodbye to Katie’s Landing, Mom made us take cheesy borderline serial killeresque videos waving and smiling for the camera. We all piled into the car ready to get back to camp, when dad (Sean) decided to pull off and stop at the local fruit stand we’ve all been dying to try. After making conversation with the lovely and eccentric man who ran the stand, we left with over $60 worth of fruit and honey. Don’t feel bad for those of us who didn’t buy the fruit though, the man made sure we all got to sample EVERYTHING they sold, so we were content. After we were back at camp, two members of our camp tried to be funny, but as per usual, their prank fell short and they became the butt of our jokes. We were able to watch a rocket launch, thanks to Brandon who warned us 40 seconds before it took off, while we ate our couscous that Elena and Kara so graciously made. Reflection was a good one tonight, making everyone feel good about themselves, but that’s all we can say. Ya know, cause of the Vegas rules. We’re filled with mixed emotions about the last day, most of us are ready to go home, but are super sad that we have to leave the great friends, places, and warm weather that we just started to love.

Peace & Love,

Brandon and Juju

January 19, 2017 Hannah and Sophie

Today we went back to Wekiva, surprise surprise. Morning was going well until we had to deal with an upset civilian who was mad about the work we were doing along the fence, specifically one tree on the other side of the fence. Morale was low, but we continued doing the work that we had been told to do by everyone we had met with at the park. We had a lovely lunch by the water followed by a great stretching circle with some interesting questions to go with it. Sean, Kara, and Jill gave us a great pep talk that helped erase the worries that people had after the morning encounter and set us up for a solid few hours of work pulling down some big vines and clearing more debris off of the fence. We got back and everyone relaxed after a longs days work. Some napped and read while others went on a hike where we saw a member of the venomous trio- a diamondback rattlesnake. It was pretty terrifying but also kinda cool and served as a great bonding experience for the group after we huddled together for our lives. We then had a wonderful pasta dinner with some strange yet interesting scary stories. Our friends Greg and Louise told us about a rocket launch that was supposed to happen which made everyone, especially the engineers, excited. However, due to technical issues the launch was rescheduled for the next day which was pretty sad (and we also had chocolateless smores). We had a nice regflection to end the day and helped set us up for a great last day of service at, you guessed it, Wekiva.

Wednesday Jan 18th

All right loyal blog followers, here it is: the finally. Not really though, we still have two days of service left, but we fo real had a lit day. We started, as usual waking up around 7:45am with Sean peacefully and pragmatically requesting our departure from the comfort of our tents to the wonders of the outside world. Our good friends, Charlie and Sherly were to betchy to show up and greet us, but it was all right. Side note, Charlie and Sherly kicked out their now fertile children possibly over a questionable boyfriend or a drug habit; its all speculation at this point.

After breakfast, we returned to the Katie’s Landing where we had our first day of service. However, today was exponentially cooler because there was an epic assortment of vines, which we needed to pull down. Sean, the concerned father of the group, took a before picture – so check it out folks. We commenced pulling down literally thousands of vines (which were a huge betch btw) ranging from dad-sized vines – all the way to first cousin-sized. James also blessed us with a chain saw, which Steven lied about knowing how to use. He commenced cutting down all the trees and vines with this possible murder weapon. (Don’t worry Jill I know how to use it now)

Next, the most controversial part of the day began. Lunch… The controversial star of the show was the newly initiated GOAT, Scott. Scott is the park coordinator who pulls off the park ranger/ police look with tapered green shirt and fly AF aviators. I was utterly enthralled by the mans ability to thoroughly answer question, go off onto tangents, hit on subjects which had nothing to do with the initial question, and all and all give Scott-great life advice.

Life advice from Scott:

1.     Get a VPN – because we are young.

2.     Watch “My Life as a Tukey” on Vimeo

3.     Go to Costa Rica and hike the El Camino

4.     Buy Marrell boots – they are great

5.     Watch out for big brother, because our health care system suck.

6.     Travel the world while you are young. Worry about the US later.

7.     Fly Norwegian Air. But do norweiganair.co, so you get the local rates.

8.     If you’re in a forest fire, run to the shake and bake then hope for the best.

Side notes from Scott:

1.     Only hire veterans and retirees if you are a park ranger.

2.     We learned how to perform a controlled burn.

3.     He explained to us how you die in a controlled burn. It’s no bueno.

Although I loved Scott’s unfiltered approach to conversation, some were not so enthralled. Elena for example, fell asleep half way through his prolonged rant while Jill and Kara where fully un-amused by his attack on park workers under 30. Anyway, after the star of the show left, we were back to an hour of vine genocide across the road. We finished the kick ass day when Sean almost grabbed our new best animal friend, Leroy the Snake. He was a friendly little Gartner snake, whom surely took a turn for the worst after we ripped the shit out of his nice viney home. Sophie, sensing the danger, fled out of a, dare I say, irrational fear for our new best friend.

Anyway, we finished the day by doing laundry that, trust me, was desperately needed (especially for a certain someone named Sean). During that adventure, Kara being the happy person she is, assumed that a dirty and possibly homeless man with a dog would know where we could find propane. To everyone’s disbelief the man had the propane we needed and GAVE IT TO US FOR FREE.

We ended the day with a dank ass mean of questionable tomato soup with grilled ‘fake’ cheese sandwiches. ‘Twas bomb. We then had reflection, which, of course, follow ‘Vegas Rules’ so I cannot talk about it. But, it was deep: believe me. All in all, it was a great day, and we are looking forward to tomorrow.

Tuesday, Jan 17, 2017 – Brandon and Kara

Today we completed service at Hontoon Island State Park. We were broken up into two groups. Those “unlucky” enough to wear shorts were tasked with moving mounds of dirt from the mainland to the island via the ferry. Apparently, they had a blast and are now all expert wheelbarrowers. Also they swear they saw a 4x5 “box” alligator on the shore. When asked for further information we were all told to “Google it.” (Kudos to Elena for burning Sean).  The much cooler panted group got to “Indiana Jones It” and worked on creating a new trail extension that linked an existing trail to a section of preserved Native American culture. There were friends “tropping” (aka clipping excess foliage), friends using the weed “eater” (aka weed whacker), and strong friends carrying heavy logs lumberjack style. Our ranger contact from Hontoon, Tess, was literally the best and was so helpful (though, still a little bitter she wasn’t open to naming the new trail the “Terrapin Trail”… jk Tess we love you). “Wild Card” Ken, the park’s mangier, was eager with assignments and had a great sense of humor. After service, we ate our lunch by the river and play a very intense round of Gravel Monster, in which there were more than one causality. After which Tess hooked us UP with some “invasive cleanup” in the river. We took the canoes out and paddled around the island for an hour. We saw a total of NINE alligators, numerous sunbathing turtles, and plenty of waterfowl. It was a few of our members first times on a canoe and they handled beautifully.  Personally, this was our favorite day or service so far. We had such an enjoyable time doing the work and felt like our effort was really appreciated and made a noticeable difference. We were all bummed to leave, and wished we had another day of service there.

            After our service some friends went back to camp whilst a few ~cool~ friends went to the grocery store to get the second half of the weeks food. We jammed real well to 80s tunes and a classic Disney mix and were able to go under budget for all of our food. Initially, it was difficult to plan food for so many people on a tight budget, but we all gained a valuable lesson on being sustainable and economically and environmentally contentious in our shopping and food habits. Tomorrow, we do service again at Katie’s Landing and we are all really excited to continue the project we begin with, in order to really see it through. Reflections have been key in this entire experience and we are all beginning to open up to each other and feel vulnerable. Some of the crew is currently out on a night hike to find bears…. Really hoping they don’t and come back in one piece… find out next time on the next episiode of the Manteam.

p.s. we found out yesterday that the state park this trip is named after is Blue SPRING, not Springs. There is really only one Spring. That is all.

p.s.s. Night hike team made it back. Gonna do a soundoff to make sure they all have their limbs.

Xoxo B and K (Gossip Squirrel)