One small hiccup, a low motorhome tire.  No worries, Dave’s service truck to the rescue.  The guys fired up the compressor and drove it right over.  We were aired up in no time.  Brazos Bend SP here we come.

We tore out a 300 ft footbridge ¾ of a mile back the trail and 200 feet of marsh boardwalk.  Awesome.

Two pickups loaded with eight “kids” from Texas A&M rolled in late Friday evening.  We settled them into Refuge housing and encouraged a good night’s sleep since an early start and a full day was in store for Saturday.

Prep started a 7AM and by 7:30 eight bright eyed kids were ready to get to it.  Twelve more adult volunteers joined us and Refuge staff pitched in to drive equipment.  By 8:30 we were actually at the worksite stringing cords and distributing tools.  The generator hummed.  Saw blades rang out.  Tractors and UTVs chugged materials away; but mostly people heaved, hefted and sweat.  The bridge was to be the whole project for the weekend but it was out by the end of the day Saturday.  Next task, a section of boardwalk also slated for demolition.  Sunday was just as awesome.  Threatened thunder storms held off and everyone put in another hard day.  Two pickups loaded with kids headed back to their studies.  Volunteers returned to their regular lives.

Kent and I were dubbed project managers/coordinators but the coming together of this group of committed volunteers is what made the whole thing work.  Thank you a million times over to each person who worked these days and those who supported the effort in the pre-work.

Our UTV riding/driving is much more sedate that during our test track fun.  Maybe it has something to do with pulling a trailer most the time.

Engineering!?  Flashback to LONG ago for Kent.  He started off actually drawing pencil and paper then stepping up to a bit of CAD work on Sketch-up (thanks Mike).  They need to rebuild a number of trail bridges and boardwalks and modify an accessible fishing pier.  The hope is that Kent’s drawings will get them a bit of a head start through their regional engineering staff so they can get moving on these structures.  We have our fingers crossed that we will actually get to drive some nails on those projects before we leave here in April.

Clambering up dirt piles and plunging down the other side.  Wallowing through trenches and holes that made my seatbelt pull tight and my free hand fly out to the grab bar.  Pushing through head high undergrowth that snapped past the roll cage and reminded me why hardhats and safety glasses are required gear.  We took the driving portion of the Fish and Wildlife Service’s off-road vehicle class.  It was pretty exciting for me even though we actually ran it in stodgy Utility vehicles (the Polaris that maxs out at 70 mph and a Kubota that will run 35) not the super sporty ATVs that the fire crew runs around on.  It was a fun couple hours and great way to get a feel for how the machine reacts.  Once off the training course its back to mild-manner trail maintenance crew driving 25mph down a nearly flat trail hauling shovels, saws and pruning shears or great piles of limbs destined for the burn pile.