False Cape 3/21-24/2011

FALSE CAPE SPRING TRIP

MARCH 20 - 24, 2011

With this cold weather and a chance of snow we are having today and tomorrow it’s hard to believe we just had a great, fun, Spring work trip, volunteering at False Cape State Park this passed week. This trip was a very rewarding one as we took down one of the Parks old Boat Docks and replaced it with a new one. We had 14 hard working Volunteers that would not quit until the job was finished. We worked so hard and fast that the park ran out of nails before the job was completed. We needed about 45 nails to finish the job.

For some of us the trip started on Sunday with training at the park office. A few new and some long time volunteers attended. The work trip started Monday morning and the rest of the group was there by 8:45 and we were loaded and on our way to the park by 9:00 A.M. We arrived at the E.E.C. building in about an hour and unloaded our gear and all the good food everyone brought. We put our gear on the assigned bunks and fixed something for lunch to take out to the work place.

The first job was to get all our tools and lumber to the work site. Chuck, the Chief Ranger, took all the boards to the dock with the front end loader for us and we headed that way in the bus and one pick-up truck. As we arrived at the dock the wind picked-up and was blowing out of the North/East. It seem cooler until we began to work, taking up all the old boards. We worked until 4:00 P.M. and then headed back to the E.E.C. where Diana was going to fix a Pork Roast. Margaret prepared Mash Potatoes and String Beans. Milton brought the Salad & Bread. The meal was topped off with Cheese Cake from Mark. What a meal ! ! On our other 2 nights we had two great meals as always. Marti who could not be there sent Ellis with two Lasagna, John P. had a great Garden Salad, Ellis provided the bread and Dewey, (I think it was from Carol) had a great tasting Apple Cake. On the last night, (Pungo Pizza has nothing on Dottie) she had 7 or 8 pizza of all kinds, with Bob providing the Salad and Marcus with a Surprise Ice Cream Cake. That’s not all of the food yet, on Monday and Wednesday morning Dewey and I (Bruce) fixed Pancakes and Sausages and Tuesday Jane had her World Famous French Toast with Sausages. You guessed it, no one lost weight on this trip. John G. even brought in lots of goodies for all.

Tuesday morning after the great breakfast we all climbed back into the bus and headed back to the work area. On this day we saw a Bald Eagle and 5 Osprey flying over head and that was very exciting for all to see. We finished the dock about 3:00 P. M. and I had a G.P.S. course set up for all to do. It was in two parts, first the group was divided into two Teams. Each team was given a G. P. S. unit with a Way Point to find. After each team made it to the way point, they started on the second part of the course. They had to find 6 bottles with a note inside with message telling them what to do with the bottle. The first team to finish reading the note at the last bottle, had to find me, (I am within 100 ft. of you). It only took about five minutes for them to do so.

The next day we worked on two picnic tables replacing the old boards with new ones. After lunch we walked 3 miles down the beach picking up trash to finish out our day. We managed to pick-up 16 bags weighing about 400 lbs. That night we had some to go on a night hike and others stayed in for a movie.

Thursday morning the weather had changed for the worst so we started packing up our gear and cleaning the E.E.C. Building and I went looking for our big yellow bus, but Kyle, the Park Manager had not return from a managers meeting at First Landing State Park with the bus, so we had to take the smaller bus and a pick-up truck to load all our coolers and totes into. We took a long and slow trip out of the park stopping at the office and the Barbour Hill Boat Dock, because this could be another project for a later date, it needs to be rebuilt also. We did beat the rain and everyone said their good bys and headed their on way home. All together we had another good trip and hope to have many more on down the road. Thanks to everyone !

Bruce Julian

View Phyllis' photos by clicking on the link: https://picasaweb.google.com/crashneumann/FalseCape32232411?authkey=Gv1sRgCIbam4HPlv6HuQE&feat=directlink