Back to the STL

Hey!

After two really long days of driving with a stop in Denver, we've made it to St. Louis. I had a really good time in Montana, with my enjoyment growing every day I was there. When I first got there, I was a little disappointed with Montana and the mountains. I'm use to seeing huge mountain ranges with 14,000 foot peaks, but I came to love it up there. I'll write less in this post, and show more pictures, since I have plenty.

The day before we left for Montana, the ERT guys from Shenandoah had a barbeque and had everyone over. When ever it is nice, one can always find some of us grilling out back and some of us sitting out front on couches on the stoop.

Enjoying good food and good drinks.

The next morning we were out on the road aiming for Denver. There is nothing between St. Louis and Denver and nothing really exciting happened.

State number 1

Gas station lunch, yum!

I love clouds if one hasn't noticed

Hey, it's Blue Hulk's shadow

We stopped in Denver for a 9 hour pit stop and got back on the road again heading for Montana. I saw Sarah and my family. It was nice to stop and sleep in my own bed. Having never been past Casper, Wyoming, driving through Wyoming felt like waiting for Christmas. I wanted to see Montana and all it had to offer. 

Cactus in my driveway

All the other cars.

Laddy was so excited to see me!

12 hours after leaving Denver, we made it to Montana. We stayed 3 weeks just outside of Butte, Montana, at the Fleecer Forest Service cabin. The cabin had 2 bedrooms, so everyone slept outside in individual tents or in the yurt with about 12 others. I slept in a tent. The day after we arrived, we split into small teams, and were sent all over Montana to different service sites. My team worked on an ATV bridge and trail just east of Butte in Pipestone. The week before we arrived, a team of second years put in the foundation for the bridge leaving the rest for us.

Rest stop in the middle of nowhere Wyoming

Custards last stand

Fleecer mountain. We stayed up there in the woods

At the forest service office loading Harold's truck with bridge for the wood.

The bridge

Measure 4 times, cut once.

Harold, 

Wooly Mammoth

Wooly Mammoth had a 3 foot advantage on the rebar using the bigger sledge hammer and barely beat Harold who had a smaller sledge and is 75 years old.

My turn!

Some progress on the bridge

More progress

Lunch time

End of day nap time.

 My team got too much done the first day and ran out of supplies, so we decided to make the trail better by putting in a dust fence with fabric. We only had a limited supply of the fabric, so we had to make a natural barrier to the trail. That meant walking up and down the mountain side looking for dead wood and pulling it down the mountain.

Wooly Mammoth and Alex working out their biceps.

The natural barrier along a portion of the trail

The bridge waiting for the 35 foot beams

 We had a day off because we accomplished what we needed done a day early, but went right back to service by putting 4, 1200 pound stringers across the creek. We had to wait til almost noon until the forest service showed up with the beams, so I learned how to do a cartwheel. I'm not very good. But once they came, we got to work using Harold's ATV and 2 of his home made trailers.

Not very good, but I am getting better

All the wood!

A few Jobcorps members with a bobcat helped us take the stringers off

Going down the trail

These beams weigh a ton

A few days later, still waiting for supplies to finish the bridge

 

After a few days at the bridge, all of ERT went to Sheepshead to take down a fence around a recreation area that hadn't been taken care of since 1983. It poured all day long, so I didn't take my camera with me. It was cold and rather miserable, but we took down the jacklink fence, made burn piles, and brought in materials for a new fence. This project took about three days. After that, we went to another area in Sheepshead called Freedom Point. Everyone was here for a few days moving burn piles that the forest service put in the wrong areas. If you haven't noticed, the forest service keeps ERT in business, we just go around fixing their mistakes. After that, we stayed at Freedom Point hauling dead, beetle killed trees off a slope where the forest service went through and decimated a rather large dead area. Every day we were there was an 8 hour day at the gym. My shoulders and arms have never been so sore.

Welcome to my gym

All those logs and fire wood were moved by ERT by hand

Another project consisted of a small team taking down a jacklink fence around a natural spring, cutting down any tree within and around, and making a new fence. Again, it rain for most the this project, but I got one picture.

ERT is really good at making burn piles.

Trigger time bucking a tree and removing limbs.

 
One of the last projects my team did was to rebuild a fence around the Forest Service's horse stable in white hall. We had to carry the lumber in and cross a creek with the new fence.

Who wants to do swimming? Not me.

How many ERT members does it take to put a post in?

Saul knows how to make a nice and level post

These horses loved us for bringing them food and making a fence so they couldn't run away

Nice and straight fence

Marty man handling a rail

Looking east away from Whitehall

Finished fence

Celebratory fence dance

Oh oh, flat tire.

I can fix that flat tire

That's it. Montana is over. Now I have a few days off before I go with 4 other people down to Joplin and run the Volunteer Reception Center. I hear I'll be down there for a month or so, but things always change. Until Joplin, I'm going to go splurge a little bit with my food stamps and cook up a delicious steak. As always, I'll try to update my travels as much as possible. Take care -  Shamucas.