a new year of travel, a new adventure

A new travel year with a renewed sense of purpose, “The Give-Back Year”

We joined Habitat for Humanity, Care-a-Vanners, and the Methodist Church, NOMADS, and headed out to see what we could do. Even if it is but a drop in the ocean (considering our current political climate) I can only hope our drop will create some ripples and help provide some relief for someone in a time of need. Perhaps even an opportunity to break a cycle and truly create a better life. All I know is that I have received so much that is good in this life, the least I can do is try to pass some along. And so, we venture forth…

This was definitely going to be a new sort of adventure. Martin was pretty skilled for this type of work and ok. I had worked on the local Habitat for Humanity houses a few times, dropping in for a day when I could, and we'd certainly done a lot of work on our house over the years. But, my ace-in-the-hole, was that my father and grandfather had both been carpenters (you know, that's what we called it back then, not builders but carpenters) so surely, I have some DNA in there that just needed to be dusted off and I'd be perfectly adept at building houses, right? 🤔

Our first stop was Marianna, FL, which is about midway on the panhandle just south of the Georgia line. (Of right, lest I forget, on our way we encountered tornados and had to shelter in the brick bathhouse of a state park. Needless to say, travel trailers are even less safe than mobile homes (!). We were fine, but I kept wondering if it was some sort of sign that we should turn around and go back home!) Marianna was classified as a “disaster recovery” so we weren't really sure what that would entail: shoveling mud, tearing down walls, repairing a house??? It turned out to be a new build, recovering from hurricane Michael that hit the area hard.

A new build, just the slab poured, lots of lumber (of various sizes, it seemed), a table saw and a little trailer full of tools. Oh jeez, nothing like diving into the deep end! I was clueless, hahaha

We met the team, a couple in their 70s, a couple in their 50s and us. Then the local contingent, the head builder, Pete, and two volunteers who were faithfully there every day we were working, one who's domain was the table saw and the other who acted as more of an inspector, making sure everything was being done correctly. One would think this meeting could have been reassuring, however the accents and vernacular were so strong that I could only decipher a word or two per sentence. But at least the smiles and warmth were genuine and I just had to take the rest on faith (and very latent DNA, ha!) So we built the exterior walls, and then we raised the walls, and then we built lots of interior walls and raised them and connected them to the outside frame. I learned that in Florida (maybe everywhere?) you use 2x4s for the studs on all the walls except bathrooms, those are 2x6s. And with the dumb English/imperial, excuse me, the less practical and unwieldy English/imperial system, you have to use fractions, not decimals (even if it is the same). (Having formerly been a scientist I've used the metric system my whole life and it is infinitely easier and more practical.) After the first day of work, I wasn't sure I'd be physically able to accomplish this year's goal. We were both pretty tired, but I was exhausted! But, by the end of the second week, we had completed our first “build” and were full of emotions. The house was up, with a roof and “papered”. The hurricane straps were on and it was ready for professionals to install plumbing and electrical. We had met and worked alongside the homeowner, a single mom of three who worked full time at a Waffle House. We formed great connections with the local Habitat group, (especially once we could start understanding each other, haha) And we made meaningful friendships with the members from our team, Jim and Ginny from Ohio who have been doing this for more than ten years and Bill and Chris from Wisconsin who were on their second build in Marianna. It was sad to leave our new friends, but I'm so grateful that I was able, in some small way, to help provide a home for this family. ❤️

Pics:

The slab with one exterior wall up and lots of lumber piled about.

I think this is the end of day 2. The exterior walls are up and we're picking up. The homeowner would frequently stop by after her shift at the Waffle House. Here she's helping by covering the lumber. She has put in 600 volunteer hours on other houses and then will need an additional 100 hours on her own house.

Russell, one of the local volunteers. The tablesaw master!

Jim, our team leader. He and his wife have been doing an average of 20 builds a year for the past ten years. They also had just about any tool you could want in the back of their SUV that had been converted, complete with home-made drawers, into a tool storage facility.