Lightning Strikes!

One of the many safety precautions that we take at my job, is to take cover and sit in a safe position when lightning is less than 7 miles away from where ever we are. We call this "lightning drills." We spread the clients and sometimes ourselves as staff out, sit on our sleeping pads and wait for the storm to pass.

Here in the hot desert mountains, in the middle of summer, it is usually the rule and not the exception that we get a storm every afternoon or evening. This could mean that we are bogged down for as little as 45 minutes or as many as several hours. Depending on the time of day, this might turn into Staff cooking a meal for the clients. Apparently, our safety is less important than theirs.

A couple of weeks ago, we had several consecutive days of lightning drills. One afternoon on a sickeningly hot day, a storm rolled in quickly. We promptly got into lightning drills and waited for the storm to pass. As we sat there, the lightning got closer and closer to us and we could literally feel the ground shake on a couple of occasions. I the distance we hear a client say, "staff, I see smoke." We immediately ran over to examine this and realized a strike had started a fire about a mile away. Because there was a pretty major gravel road between us and the fire we weren't alarmed at first. But then, we noticed another fire about a quarter of a mile away. We quickly got the group and ourselves packed up, notified backup and started hiking away from the fire. Luckily, it started to rain and both fires seemed to diminish. That week, there were several fires causing groups to move and we were all being showered with ash. Thankfully, nothing major happened and all groups remained safe.

Some of the lightning drills that week lasted up to 5 hours. Us as staff were forced to cook dinner for the clients three times this week. Myself and my co-worker took on this task and actually had a lot of fun with it. One day we cooked in the pouring down rain. Because the clients have to stay put where they are, they can get rather needy during these times. They would shout out different requests for their "bear bags", "the spices", etc. I can tell you first hand that this gets a little annoying after a while. Luckily I was working with an awesome staff and we were able to laugh it off.

Mother Nature is a curious creature.

Fireworks Aren't Everyting, But Meat Is...

I had to spend the first of many holidays working in the field. Because Second Nature is a year-round program someone always has to be working. The first holiday that I spent in the field was the Fourth of July.

Luckily, Second Nature is awesome and tried their best to make these days extra special for us as staff and for the clients. One of the biggest highlights of every one's week is Friday night when we get meat in the field. Because the Fourth fell on a Saturday, we got "meat night" a day late. We had 24 Bratwursts delivered to us for 11 people to eat. Let's just say it was quite the feast. We also got two pies, potato salad, chips, condiments and a watermelon. That's what I call high class camping.

We decided to make the holiday as American a we possibly could and buried our meat in squeeze butter to cook with. As a staff team of 4, we ate 11 brats. It's amazing how wonderful meat and pie can taste in the woods. Because we were so full, we continued the celebration the following day by eating the watermelon.

We may not have had fireworks or a proper picnic, but there was something very American about the whole thing. We even got surprised with an awesome sunset. As much as I missed being around family for this day, I look forward to the surprises the next field holiday might bring.

I Get Paid To Do This?

As I have already mentioned, I recently moved to Southwestern Utah to pursue a career in the outdoors. After 7 days of training, I was offered the job and began working as an intern on June 2nd. My first week in the field was an interesting one as I was the only female working with an all male staff in an adolescent boys group. I again returned to this group for my second week, but had the company of another female staff. You quickly learn here at Second Nature that as a female you are the minority.

After my second shift, I got moved to the adolescent girls group and have stayed there for 3 consecutive shifts. This was a complete turn around from working with all guys. It has been an awesome experience getting to know the young ladies and working with different staff members that I have learned so much from. After being here a few months I have no doubt in my mind that I made the right choice moving out here.

I go into work every Tuesday and work 8 consecutive days backpacking and camping in the wilderness. While the program is very Therapy focused, a lot of what I do is simply keep our clients safe and help facilitate their daily lives in the wilderness. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I get paid to live out of a backpack, supervise a little, and help people attempt to better their lives. During my first couple of shifts as we would sit around the fire and tell stories, laugh, cry or just talk, I kept reminding myself how lucky I am to have a job that not only helps others grow, but also helps myself grow as an individual.

Don't get me wrong, my job is hard work and tolling at times, but I'm thankful to not be sitting in an office wearing business clothes in front of a computer all day long. It's also not the worst thing in the world to have 12 days off per month to explore the many things the West has to offer.

If you want to learn more about the Second Nature click here!

A Mexican Hat and a Thumb

On my final day of exploring, I visited the Mexican Hat Rock and Monument Valley. I had stayed in the town of Mexican Hat, named for the rock formation, the night before and had plenty of time to explore both places.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn't coroporating but I did get some pretty cool photos. Mexican Hat Rock really amazed me, not for it's size, but for it's obviously unique formation.

Monument Valley consisted of a 17 mile drive through various buttes and red mesas known as Monument Valley Navajo Tribal Park. I realized very quickly that it probably wasn't the smartest idea to take a heavily loaded Hoda Accord through a bumpy and poorly maintained gravel road through a rock valley. The accord did make it out alive and I got a few nice pictures along the way. My favorite spot in Monument Valley was "the thumb" and rightfully named so.

Atfter I left, I had a fairly short drive to Saint George and the next morning I woke up early and arrived at my training. It was a long and tiring road trip, but it was well worth it!

My Master Card Commercial

If I could write a master card commercial for my cross country drive it would go something like this...



Gas = $227.94

Lodging = $178

Food = $60

Speeding Ticket = $50





Driving 3,000 miles across the country to start a new life adventure?



PRICELESS

Those Navajo Police Will Getcha

Normally, I wouldn't be broadcasting the fact that I got pulled over and was cited for speeding on an Indian Reservation. However, I think the circumstances make this story worth while. After I left White Sands, I was headed for Mexican Hat, Utah to stay the night. I knew I was going to be passing a National Monument in Arizona and I decided to make a huge effort to see it.

I arrived in the Canyon De Chelley National Monument area a couple of hours before sunset and I decided I had about an hour to do some exploring. After I visited the first scenic over look, I was going to just get in my car and drive the remaining two hours to Mexican Hat. But, I ran into some locals who convinced me that the next couple of stops would be well worth my while.

I was so impressed with what I had already seen, and so excited to get to the next spot, that I wasn't even paying attention to how fast I was driving. I just knew that I wanted to see the next awesome thing, and before I knew it a cop was pulling me over. At that point, I didn't know how bad the damage would be since I didn't know how fast I was going.

As it turns out, I was speeding 14 mph over the speed limit and I was given a tribal citation. The only thing a person needs to know about a Tribal citation is that it doesn't affect your license or your insurance and for that I'm very lucky.

Lesson learned: Too much excitement will get you in trouble!

You Haven't Seen White Until...

Well, you haven't seen sand this white until you visit White Sands, New Mexico. It could have been the gorgeous blue sky or my bright orange shirt as contrast, but this place absolutely blew me away. Miles and miles of endless white sand dunes, all at the base of a huge Mountain range. How did that sand even get there?

I went on a mile hike dscovering the different animals that have adapted themselves to live in this desert sand. I also drove the entire scenic drive and got out to take pictures in different areas. It was impossible to actually capture the amazing awe of this place on film, but I did my best.

Enjoy the pictures :-)

Run With Your Heart

I read a book called Ultramarathon Man, and in the book the author talks about how his High School track coach always told him to "run with his heart". Well, when you are in the middle of nowhere, Texas, and you need gas, you should also tell your car to run with its heart. And that is exactly what I did, when I realized my gas light had come on and I was 32 miles away from a gas station.

This story has a happy end as I didn't run out of gas. Boy was I thankful for this little gas station I found. It was the most old school pump I had come across probably ever, and the guy working there had to use binoculars to look at the pump to see how much I owed. Even though I almost had a heart attack, the whole experience was quite funny in the end. I will never again second guess getting gas when I think I probably should.

Leason officially learned.

750 Feet Under

The first scenic stop I made along the way was at Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. I decided to go on the Natural Entrance self guided tour as it would take about an hour. I was very excited to use my newly purchased annual National Park Pass for free admission into the caverns.

The trail takes you winding down farther and farther through amazing formations. It first starts outside where the amphitheater for the evening bat viewing lies. Unfortunately I wasn't able to stay until dusk when the bats fly, but this is something I would love to come back for! The cavern experience was a good opportunity to practice my photography skills, as well as to use my new tri pod. At times I had to keep my shutter open for nearly a minute, only to come up with a barely lit photograph. I did get a few pictures that took in enough light though.

After I finished at the Caverns, my plan was to head for Guadalupe Mountains National Park. I was really hoping, because of time, that this would be something I could take a scenic drive through. However, when I got there I realized that the park was primarily a hiking park and therefore, I wouldn't have enough time to really do anything there. I did get a few pictures of the Mountains that I would someday like to hike. In most cases, paved roads through natural beauty really bothers me, but this was the one time I had been hoping for mankind to have stepped in. I guess I will have to go back someday!

The Route

Here is a VISUAL of the route that I took out west. It was a total of about 3,100 miles and 50 hours of driving and all totally worth it.

Much thanks to Buffy and Iain for housing me along the way!