Garage from scratch

Dallas build day #1 

Wake up at 6:30, scramble to get ready, them walk to Sally's for breakfast. We had a wonderful mountain of food awaiting us. Sally and friends had made us heaps of pancakes, mounds of eggs,and  pans of sausage. We also had the options of fresh fruit, 8 boxes of cereal, grapefruit bowls, yogurt and many other things. Once again, I have to express my extreme appreciation for everything that they have done for us in our stay at Dallas. We shuttled over to the build site in Vanessa and some of the Muhl's vehicles. Even with all of the leaders driving we had too many cars and not enough drivers, so some of the riders got to drive for the first time in a month. They were excited to be behind the wheel again. Making it to the build site, we did the usual unload and sign waivers bit, then we heard a little bit about the house. Befitting of today being fathers day, this house is for a single father with 3 daughters. He, his kids, and his parents, who live with him, are receiving this house which will be build 90% by young adult labor. Garland habitat for Humanity has partnered with a local high school building trades class for most of the labor, but we came in for some weekend work.  They had build the frame off site, then moved the house to it's current location on Thursday before we came. Next to the house was a cement slab, destined to become the garage. That was my task for the day. Others painted rooms or caulked door frames outside, but I spent my day with the guys framing the garage. We started throwing some walls together right away and had the side walls up quickly. I've gotten pretty good with a hammer and nail on this trip! I have definitely improved from my first attempts at Habitat hammering! We had a few difficulties with the last walls because we were running low on studs but we managed to make it work. We took lunch around noon from a local deli. It was delicious, as always! We also got some cool swag from Garland HfH: gloves! I have my own pair of Habitat for Humanity gloves for keeps! We went back to work for about an hour then broke for the day. It was really strange being done by 1:30, but the heat is so intense (105*) that it's not a good idea to be working outside at 3 pm and it is fathers day, so our supervisors needed to get home. Even withthe early end time we managed to get a lot accomplished. We completely framed the garage and put up the osb boards (plywood). Hopefully tomorrow the trusses will be hung and they will be able to put a roof on by the end of he week. 

We returned to Sally's for a quick dip in the pool before heading off for a special treat. Galen called around and got us a great discount on rock climbing from Dallas Rocks! Christine C, Kristina, Mark,Will, Galen, Eddie, Mel and I were able to use their facilities to climb and boulder for a little while. I had a great time on the walls and learned some new things from Galen and Patrick, the manager. He was pretty awesome and hooked us up with some sweet swag, stickers, cliff bars and healing cream! 

We made it back to Sally's in time for the pool party/BBQ with the Habitat board and future homeowner. Once again there was an over abundance of food, including hot dogs, hamburgers, veggie burgers, and sausages. We were also given (super soft) T-shirts and hats from Garland habitat. Now I just need some Habitat shorts and I will have a complete outfit! I think that my favorite thing about this trip is the generosity of the people we meet. We would have been content to sit in he middle school entertaining ourselves all afternoon, but instead Sally and Peter took care of us for three straight days which they were under no obligation to do. For every driver that cuts me off or honks at me on the road, for every bit of litter and trash along the road way, for every dead animal that I pass, there are people like the Muhl's or the man who filled up Mel's water bottle outside of DeFuniak Springs, or the couple in the butcher store who gave us lunch halfway to Apalachicola. It's one of the things I heard about from Kristen before the trip, but somehow didn't believe was true until I experienced it for myself. The kindness of strangers is a powerful tool. 

We finished the night with a late night chat outside under the awning, then walked back towards the school. Josh A showed me where the secret shower (Coaches locker room) was and I took a nice long shower. It was so nice to be able to take as long as I wanted (most people had showered while I was at the rock wall). I snuck over to my sleeping bag and was out like a light.