Team Sweet Cereal

It hasn't been easy to find free moments to connect to the internet to make a blog entry this week. We have all been consumed with our daily activities of either -travel and cleaning the river! The first few days of the trip were travel to Iowa. After the 7 hour drive, we pulled into the very small town of Lucas, Ohio -home of Malabar Farm State Park. We stayed overnight at Malabar Farm Hostel, which is on the grounds of the 700 acre historic organic farm property. The sweet beginnings of our Spring Break included shots of pure maple syrup and maple candy! The crew loaded up onto a horse drawn wagon and enjoyed a casual ride into the sugar bush to enjoy the festivities of the farm's annual Maple Festival. Because the hostel didn't open until 5 pm, the crew ventured off into the woods for a short hike! Nothing better than a little exercise after a long drive. Barb, the hostel manager, greeted us at the door later on and showed us our "home" away from home! As she described the restaurants in the area she couldn't quite remember the name of the place that "grills everything". Hibachi? No. Ponderosa? -No. "Burger King! That's it!" The whole team cracked up!
The accommodations were very nice with bunk beds and a full use kitchen. I think all of the syrup earlier in the day inspired cravings for pancakes for dinner so we loaded up the van to drive to town for a little grocery shopping. Breakfast for dinner was a great idea! The crew filled the kitchen, working as a great team, to prepare a hardy "breakfast" of eggs, pancakes, fresh fruit, bacon, juice, and toast! Although most of the food was gone by the time my team called me for dinner, what food I was able to fend for myself was tasty! Mary did a wonderful job on the blueberry pancakes--I know that! As for the bacon, eggs, and toast, you'll have to ask the rest of the crew how that was. All I remember is seeking fresh air when the fire alarms went off! LOL
After dinner the students went outside to play hide and seek, at least I think that was what they were playing. I heard a lot of laughter! Meanwhile I was upstairs winding down for the night and trying to get rested for the 10 drive the following day. The students could afford to stay up later than I to play our new game "Whoonu" since they could sleep in the van on the way from Ohio to Iowa!
On Sunday morning we headed out early with a quick breakfast and a big Thanks to Barb. We knew we would see her again on our return through town on our way back to NY on Friday night.
So all of the travel here was safe and sound! We played a few games in the car, listened to the radio (when an actual good station could be found), stopped for gas, and grabbed Subway in Hobart, Indiana! We passed a bunch of cities as we kept driving through Illinois and later Iowa, such places as Utica, Rochester, Seneca, Oswego, Syracuse, Waterloo, Geneva, Hobart, and others. It seems like each state shared a common name with a town or city of New York.
The students have done wonders with making journal entries into our written journal. I made sure to pass that around the back of the van on the way here so that they could "express themselves with games of hangman and jotting down memories and quotes. As we drove through Indiana we saw a billboard giving directions to a nearby business by saying "Take a dog leg right at the light". I've been meaning to Google that terminology! We arrived at about 5 pm Sunday and met up at The Shack Tavern for a dinner of chicken fried steak and gravy hosted by Living Lands and Waters. The team was introduced to Chad Pregracke, the organization's founder, and his wacky crew members - Shannon, Joe, Jeff, daNoz, Mike, Meghan, and Tammy! We were also introduced to the Shack's owner who just recently rebuilt his restaurant since the June 2008 floods. Across the street from the Shack we saw the LLW temporary worksite, which includes a few 4 wheel drive trucks, a box truck, camper, dumpster, and trailer. This is where we would end up meeting each morning to hear our motivational speech from daNoz, or stretch with Jeff, and set off on the boats to various locations along the Cedar River shoreline.

On Monday...The LLW crew took us on a river tour to see what we were up against this week. We saw picnic tables twisted in the branches of trees, blue 55 gal. drums tossed up on the steep slopes of the river, wooden pallets washed up on shore, and plastic bags blowing in the wind like streamers from the tree tops. A closer look would show bottles and cans, household waste, cardboard, toys of all kinds, garbage bags, gardening supplies, yard fencing, signs, containers, fishing lures and bobbers, office materials, pens, caps, wrappers, dog houses, pals, bins and other stuff, all covered in MUD!

Tuesday was a festive day! All 9 of us dressed up as the Lucky Charms for St. Patrick's Day! We decorated t-shirts the night prior with fabric markers for our special début of the sweet cereal! Jonathan was loaned a wonderful pea-green leprechaun outfit to wear for the day also! What fun! We joked that our boat's team name should be -- Team Sweet Cereal!!! The boat loads of trash keep coming in!

It is now Wednesday! --Time flies when you have a ton of trash to pick up!!!---

This week has been an awesome experience for us! We have been able to befriend other volunteers from SUNY Geneseo, Purdue, University of Iowa, and Bradley University as we've cleaned the shores of the Cedar! Often times its been in the form of a lended hand while shoveling a refrigerator out of the mud or rolling a giant tire onto the boat, or a reached out hand for an aid in balance, assistance in prepping lunch or company at a hosted potluck or cookout! It really has been wonderful to come together for a cause that has been greatly appreciated by the local community. On our first night here, Brittany, a local, invited us to her temporary home for a cookout with her family and friends! Just about 30 us filled every lawn chair she had and her hammock to share a meal together. Brittany had us go around the circle to introduce ourselves and state the reason why we wanted to come on Alternative Spring Break in Cedar Rapids. We definitely have a common interest --- to help out a cause and make a difference! After dinner, as Brittany walked us through Cedar Rapids Czech Village, a random car pulled aside the shoulder of the road. The woman driver rolled down the window and asked if we were volunteers. She hollered huge thanks and drove off! --I think it made all of us very much appreciated and recognized. We've gotten similar thanks from cyclists riding along the river's edge, cars passing by our worksite, and recognition given by local TV stations. We have had the warmest welcome! It feels great to be part of such a mission -to clean up this river!

Tomorrow is Thursday, our last work day on the river! We'll be up and at the worksite by 9 am and pick up trash through the day until about 4:30 pm. Shannon has orchestrated awesome noontime hot lunches for the entire crew each day! A great midday bonus!!! After work tomorrow we plan to visit Coe College's Sustainability Council to share and exchange ideas about campus sustainability ---hopefully the information we gather will be shared with HWS, Campus Greens, and our Sustainability Coordinator!!

I apologize for the lack of submissions to this blog. The team has been so focused on the river and has pretty exhausted by days end that we haven't had a chance to reflect electronically to our supporters! Hopefully, you will hear my teammate's thoughts soon!
-sarah :)