Hitch one: part one

My Crew: Jake, Jared, JR, Kristen, Chase, Danielle, Maghan, Me

Crew Name: The Los Hobos

This is at the location of our first hitch (and second) we are doing work for the Buero of Reclamation, they kinda control the colorado river, they damn is save it fish it, ect. we are working on these things called HOBOs they measure the relative humidity, temperature and sunlight in their location. the BOR has planted native trees all along the Colorado to help bring back more natural wildlife, the HOBOS let them monitor that. I'll explain more of what this looks like when i get a bit more time later today.

I got back from camp (NH) on monday and after looking at the weather my dad and I immediately decided that to avoid the snow and other bad weather we needed to leave the next day. So i drove 8 hours monday, stoping in boston to drop Carson and Chris off and went right home and immediately started packing like a mad woman. the wonderful Frang ( a friend from Gordon) came by to help and calm me down. it worked and i got a lot done. we left the next day at around 1 and headed south, hoping to avoid the snow but with no such luck. west virginia didn't feel the need to use ice but we did. My dad did all the driving in the snow and we got to harrison burg virginia at about 7:30, had a wonderful dinner at IHOP (witch still to this day reminds me on the movie i am sam) and went to the home of Kelly Elizabeth, my long lost neighbor and West Chester friend, and pretty much went right to bed.

January 12th, 6:30 am we depart and head to Nashville TN. only a few things to note of our long day in the car. I am learning/perfecting my manual driving skills so this adds a bit more excitement to the time while i am driving. i really do ok but getting started is occasionally a little rough. the check engine light is on and we are choosing to ignore it. this maybe the first time in his life my dad is doing this and i can tell its bugging him. another thing... the speakers don't work... thats right over 40 hours in a car with now speakers! we have a little one that attaches to an ipod and we are about halfway through the hobbit. not much else to report.

Everywhere we have driven so far is really beautiful an the snow has only added to that but i am ready for a change of scene and am looking forward to the midwest. tomorrow is another long day on the road but for tonight we are at the Grosses, my dad works with there dad and they have 4 kids ages 10-17 (thats a guess). My dad and paul have been talking macs and iphones and pads and apps for the past few hours, I'm ready for bed, but its only 9:45. (we also went through a time change today)

this is boring, sorry if you read it. i swear that things will get more exciting once i get to Tucson, only about 1600 miles to go. I am will get pictures on here some time too.

First Step

I have decided to start a blog, I honestly though I would never do this. I am not a very good writer and I am not sure I will have anything to say that people will be interested in, but never the les here is my attempt.

So here goes: On January 12^th, 2011 I am headed off on a journey. I will be packing most my belongings into a Subaru outback and heading west. My Dad and I will be driving from good old West Chester PA to the new and daunting Tucson, Arizona. 2,411 miles, 39 hours of father daughter bonding time. Walking this would take 31 days and 9 hours (If I walk 24 hours a day) and by bike only 9 days 7 hours. Monday morning Ill drop my dad at the airport and head to work, to my most grownup job yet… if you can call this a grown up job.

I’ll be working for Southwest conservation corps (link) spending most my time in the wilderness with the occasional day off and opportunity to shower. Ill be a part of a program with 5 other people and 2 leaders, spending the next 10 months in close community with all of them. I have never met any of them and have convinced my self they are all going to hate me. One thing I can guarantee about this grand unknown experience is that I WILL have stories. Weather they are true or fabricated, like the moose I saw in the grand Tetons when I was 9, this will be my place to share them. I will not have a lot of time with technology for the next few months so if I don’t have time to call all the people I love (I wont have time, I love a lot of people) you can look on here and find out what my latest adventure has been, or latest boring antidote or cactus fact.

I hope this is interesting enough to read/skim this every once in a while. I will do my best to keep in touch with everyone, and I would love to hear about your adventures. So email me. Or send me a letter, my new address as of Jan 17^th and until May (in May we will move to Durango, CO) will be:

Emily Bauder

Southwest Conservation Corps

1376 W St Mary Rd


Tucson, AZ 85745

If you write me I will get back to you.

Happy New Year!