Despite our motivation to get to Jacksonville and reunite with the folks at Faith UMC, we were forced to make a slow trip south, arriving the day before Thanksgiving. After enjoying the holiday together, we started digging into the list of potential projects and sifting out what was highest priority. It didn’t take much discussion to understand that getting the containers finished was at the top of the list.

Taking the Scenic Route​

When we bought our new truck, we asked about any break-in periods for the engine. There weren’t any – except we couldn’t tow anything for the first 500 miles. No problem, we would be over that before we needed to head south. However, in reading through the owner’s manual, Dave discovered another restriction. The transmission required that we not exceed 50 mph in the first 500 miles of towing. That meant taking I95 south would be a problem.   

 So, we made our way south by way of back roads – mostly US 301 – through NC, SC, GA. We even discovered another GA Welcome Center on 301. While sipping our complementary diet Coke, we chatted with our host about the benefits of traveling this “road less traveled”. Pulling the rig meant we weren’t free to explore much, but we managed to squeeze in a visit to the Claxton Fruitcake company, and a good meal of BBQ at the Rusty Pig a few miles down the road. Slowing down wasn’t such a bad thing.

 Spending more time in the truck – or more specifically, getting in and out of the truck reinforced our desire to install running boards. Covering the gap between the cab and the ground was a bit of a gymnastic event. Through his research, Dave was certain we could install these ourselves. After reviewing several after-market alternatives, he finally came back around to the ones sold by the Ram dealer. They were good quality. We would not have to drill any holes. And the price was competitive. We even got them to give us a discount.   

​ Using the wisdom and experience of youtube, it took us a couple of hours (including time taken to talk about the job with various people passing by) to install the steps on the truck. It was as easy as the videos made it sound, they look great and, most important, getting in and out of the truck is so much easier.   

Faith Work

Shortly after we left Faith in the spring, the contractor finally positioned the 2 containers that would replace the storage rooms destroyed in June of 2017 by tree limbs falling on them. The work that had been initially planned for last winter had been delayed, and the time to get these containers in working order was long overdue. Working with the other volunteers who had arrived just before and after us, the work was finally getting under way.   

Although the wiring had been mostly done in the spring, there was still some work to getting the lights to light inside the trailer. Through an unusually wet summer and fall, it was obvious that one of the containers had some leaks, so we needed to do some patch work on the roof. Also, the gap between the containers needed to be bridged to eliminate water accumulation in the gap and down the inner walls. Back in the temporary storage location of all the supplies, we needed to measure and inventory the major items that had to be moved in. Then all of them needed to be plotted on a chart to ensure they would fit.   

 By month’s end, the work was well underway. Although we had people coming and going between now and the start of January’s project, we were feeling good that we would have enough progress that the project team arriving then would be able to hit the ground running.

Holidays

We did make it for Thanksgiving and enjoyed the day with a church dinner. Jahaziel was trying out his new camera and made a video of the day. (See here.) Although it’s hard to hear some of the people speaking, it is a touching picture of some people reflecting on what they are thankful for.

 The following Saturday, we took a short drive downtown to see Jacksonville’s holiday boat parade on the St. John’s River. They had some pretty elaborately decorated boats that passed us by on a mild night that were fun to watch.

​ “Your grandson needs to be picked up from school.” With no vehicle, surrounded by 2 dozen volunteers hard at work stabilizing, painting and repairing the CCC-built cabins, and simultaneously working the phones with the car salesman and the insurance agents, this phone call certainly added complexity to an already crazy day. We were in the middle of Cabin Work Week, an exhilarating and exhausting week of work, fun, and fellowship. Balancing our chaotic personal life with the demands of the project was a challenge, but one that seemed so worthwhile. That’s how the month began. But by mid-November, the project was behind us, we had our new truck, and we were seriously motivated to finish up at Pocahontas. It was not just wet, but cold – and getting colder. It was time to move south. 

Cabin Work Week

It was hard to keep up with the work. With three primary worksites for the Cabin Work Week teams, re-visiting each site showed dramatic changes from the last trip. The three cabins sit in the Swift Creek Camp section of Pocahontas State Park. The Dining Hall, frequently used for weddings and other events, is ringed by 5 buildings that were in varying states of disrepair. We were working on the 3 that were in worst shape.    Check out the video of the project here. 

 The Craft Cabin mostly needed work on it windows and screens. There were more than a dozen of them. All needed some attention. Many needed to be rebuilt. And since these were not built by machines back in the 30’s, no 2 were exactly alike. That made the careful job of re-installing them painful, since each one had to be fitted into its correct slot. (Too bad they weren’t labeled as they were removed, Brian.) With the windows repaired, painted, panes installed, glazed and re-hung, the crew moved on to the screens. One amazing find was an original screen made of copper, installed with copper nails. Even though the work on this cabin’s windows was completed by mid-week, the work was far from done. The worst of the screens and windows from the other cabins made their way back to be repaired and re-installed.   

The 3-Bedroom Cabin was suffering from damage to the siding, where water had been wicking up into the boards from the bottom and rotting the siding. Before the crew arrived, the ground around the cabin had been graded to route water away from the foundation and minimize the ongoing erosion and water damage. Once the crew arrived, much of the front siding needed to be completely replaced, siding along the eave of the front porch needed to be replaced to eliminate both water and animal intrusion, and the roof needed a few repairs. By the end of the 2nd day, this team was installing the last of the new siding and tacking down the last of the shingles. They were ready to hand it over to the painters who spent the rest of the week scraping, priming, and painting to renew the look of the building.  

 By far the worst was the Nurse’s cabin, whose roof had been damaged more than a decade ago, and the repair had done a poor job of keeping water out of the room below. By week’s end, the roof looked new again, and the siding was going back on the outside.   

 Despite all the hard work, the team had a great time together. Each evening, some activity gave the volunteers the opportunity to gather and enjoy some of what the park had to offer – canoeing, hiking, campfire, etc. -- and share experiences from the day. Aaron Paula Thompson, the CCC Museum curator joined us each day to share some of the history of the park, when it was being built back in the 30’s. Cathy got back on the tractor, and managed to make the hay ride less eventful than her last one, but she wasn’t quite so lucky when briefly driving the van shuttle.   

When we gathered for the potluck on Saturday, what had been a group of strangers had transformed into friends. Rich, the project leader who had inspected each cabin and developed a detailed list of work, supplies, teams, etc. was also rewarded on Sunday as new volunteer of the year, for all he had done to make the project such a success. And there is already a 2019 Cabin Work Week – actually 2 weeks – on the calendar for next fall.   

Our New Ride

Shopping for a truck while you’re standing in a parking lot on work breaks is an interesting process, but you do what you have to do. It took some doing, but we managed to find a 4x2 Ram 2500 longbed truck that would fit more comfortably under the cab of our RV. After a marathon session with the dealer to work through the actual purchase, we drove away on our own wheels for the first time in over 2 weeks. A fellow camp host had taken us back to our old truck to strip everything we could out of it. That included the hitch, which we now had to install in the bed of the new truck.

 One of the options on the new truck was a 5th wheel prep package, which proved to be worth every penny we paid for it. The truck had the four holes pre-drilled and configured with pucks that would receive a set of bed rails made specifically for Ram trucks. These rails could be installed by simply dropping them into the holes and turning 4 arms to lock the 4 legs into the truck bed. We could adjust the fit to ensure it was tight by pulling a clevis pin, spinning the arms a turn or half-turn and then re-installing the pin. It was pretty straightforward. The harder part of the installation was getting our old hitch to line up on the bed rails.    

 When we first tried to make the connection, the pins that connect the hitch to the rails wouldn’t pass through the holes far enough to allow the clevis pin to secure them. After several attempts, we decided the pins were too short. That started a lot of research to find new pins. But no one seemed to have any longer pins. Dave was becoming convinced that the problem was that the hitch had too much tension. With the help of Dick and Joe and the right tools, he was able to release the tension and the pins fit just fine. No wonder we couldn’t find longer ones.   

​ As you may recall from our last entry, our big concern before we bought the truck was whether it would allow the RV to ride level. To figure that out, we had to try hooking it up to the truck for the first time. Given the slope of our site and the height of the new truck, we had to raise the RV up almost as high as it would go before it was high enough for the hitch pin to meet the hitch. Dave had to get accustomed to the differences presented by the new truck and his view of the back, but the RV hooked up easily. Success! The RV is not as level as before, but with some adjustments in the hitch and hitch pin, we feel confident we can make that happen.  

Finishing Up

Although we had our new truck now, we still had a few things to do to be able to leave for Jacksonville. Not the least of which was to sell our old truck, which had sat on the Ford Dealer's lot since the day it died in mid-October. While we waited for the buyers to beat down our door, Cathy made one more trip to NC and Dave worked with the November park host to continue to finish up the exterior work on the 3 CCC cabins from Cabin Work Week.

By the end of our 2nd week, Cathy was back and we had disposed of the truck. It was a good thing, too. We had had more than enough nights of hard frosts and chilly days. Saying goodbyes and thanks to the park staff and fellow volunteers, we headed out Sunday before Thanksgiving. We planned to share our Thanksgiving meal with our friends at Faith in Jacksonville.