home sweet home?

not sure that home is "home sweet home" this time. i like the idea of being home but all i want is to go back out on another fire. my apartment is a disaster and i am resisting doing laundry. it's nice to have some solitude and quiet but at the same time i really miss the drone of helicopters going back and forth overhead.

so for now i'm going to head out and say hi to some friends. maybe i'll do laundry tomorrow.

beds are overrated

i was excited to sleep in one but i feel like i sleep better when in my tent now. and this hotel bed is way too soft. a hard and unusual adjustment to make i figure. i'm thinking about sleeping on the hotel floor tonight. except i know it's not as clean as the inside of my tent. i wonder what the housekeeping crew would think if they walked in and found a tent set up in the room. maybe i'll do that. :-)

last day on fire assignment

so it's been a long few days. 20 days to be exact. on august 7th we moved from Lowman Ranger District office to an area on the outskirts of Garden Valley. this is a full blown fire camp with catered food lines, a shower trailer, and plenty of porta-johns. i'll miss fire camp. before camp was here this area was an empty field. now there's yurts with office like settings inside complete with internet, copy and fax machines, and air conditioning.

of course seeing as making maps is an essential part of managing a wildfire these days i get to be in the trailer with the computer support folks. it's been a blast. the trailer is incredibly dusty from their last assignment which was in arizona. one can't complain though, b/c at least we have a/c.

there is a "camp crew" which consists of a bunch of teens who clean camp, make sure every yurt and trailer has a cooler full of water, gatorade and ice. they empty the recycling and trash daily as well and hand out the bag lunches.

i love doing the work that i've been doing. i had the opportunity twice to go up in a helicpoter and GPS the perimeter of the fires that our team is managing. the first flight i went on was an A-Star. a small helicopter with bucky as the pilot. he did a great job of keeping one skid in the black and one in the green though i swear we were only 100 feet off the ground in most cases. i'd fly with him again any day. the other flight was a much larger aircraft and the pilot was not as nice as bucky but he was very skilled. it was a windy day and still no one got sick.

as excited as i am to sleep in a bed again i'll miss this job. i already cant' wait to go out on another assignment.

fire assignment

so i can't believe how much time has passed. it's been absolutely wonderful. who knew there was so much to learn and see and so many great people to work with even though for almost 16 hours a day i don't leave my desk. ok. that's not entirely true. i get up to run to deliver maps and to go pick up food we've ordered from the local deli.

so i'm in Lowman, ID. there's not much here. the span between the town and the Warm Springs Airstrip where our helibase is located has 3 places to eat. i LOVE the deli for breakfast and lunch. and the Sourdough Lodge and Haven Lodge both have been having great specials for dinners. but none of the places are used to 20-25 people walking in starving every single night for a few weeks in a row. besides the Sourdough has been feeding some of the fire crews. the guys love it (i've noticed they like to get the milkshakes) and it's cheaper than catering for the number that we have.

here are a few pics that i and others took during the first two weeks here.
http://picasaweb.google.com/rmtnfern/TrapperRidgeWFU

i love this. i only miss a few of my friends and wish i had cell service. i might go to town tomorrow and give some of them a call.