Cape Girardeau 10/28

The Fellows cheer as I cross the finish line—completing the pack test.  The scene transforms into a classroom.  I sit transfixed as I learn that Missouri is the number 1 state in the US that produces crystal meth.  Our fire instructor paces back and forth as he tells us of the booby traps we may encounter in the wild including, but not limited to, shot gun shells filled with nails, fish hooks hanging from branches, and trip wires that spring deadly spikes.  The classroom fades and a living room appears.  Haley and I are beaming at each other over our first carved pumpkin.  Zoom in on the grinning jack-o-lantern: the light in the pumpkin’s mouth transfigures to a porch light.  As the door to the apartment opens we are met by Chelsea Bodamer who has a look of horror on her face as she notices my zombie victim costume. 

And now, your feature presentation.

This week I am a member of the red team along with Whitney, Chelsea Evans, and Richard under the leadership of Dan Burch.  We were assigned to the Cape Girardeau area for this week’s service projects along with another team… team orange, I think.  Our primary duty over here is to battle invasive species.  Today’s operations took place at the Trail of Tears State Park.  With a chainsaw, a blower, a buzz saw and some physical labor we were able to clear almost a football field’s length of trail for the rangers.  Afterward we got a start on weeding out the Autumn Olive but the drive over was a bit longer than anticipated and we had to call it as the light was fading.

As we will be unable to celebrate Halloween in St. Louis, we bought a couple of appropriately themed movies to watch in honor of the upcoming event.  Tonight we’re going to watch Pacific Rim, which isn’t exactly all that scary, but we found it in the truck and I haven’t seen it yet.  Big robots and humanity hanging on the brink; it’s rather Evangelion-esque.  I think I will enjoy it due to my large exposure of anime at a younger age.  For the next three days we have American Psycho, Zombieland, and Orphan lined up.  I love scary moves and am looking forward to the up and coming viewings.  For now though I hope you all have pleasant dreams!  May they be filled with mischief!

The first picture is of the first year ERT members after completing the pack test.  It is brought to us by Chelsea Bodamer.  The next three are shots of the sights we saw while creating a path in the Trail of Tears State Park.  The bottom shot is Chelsea Evans hard at work with a blower.  These pictures were taken by yours truly.