How I Spent My Saturday

I was excited about today because we get to go on a FSR (Forest Service Road) and clean up all the crap that others have left behind, plus I would get to take my new truck up there and see how well she does in the bush!

We had a bit of a later start to the day than I had hoped for because, even though we were ready to go on time, a neighbor that wanted to chat about something stopped us. Have you ever tried to get away from someone when they are talking and you know you have to be somewhere? I didn’t want to be rude but I could see the time was ticking by faster each time I looked and I ended up telling them that I had to leave as I was late!

With a full tank of gas I drive the 94km to the staging area of the clean up and get signed in, got our door prize tickets and pick up some gloves, garbage bags and some water and off we went. We drove about three kilometers and met up with some fellow geocachers that were also helping with the clean up. We decided to stop and help them clean up this one area that was just off the main road.

We were there about an hour and picked up thousands of shotgun shells and other debris that was in the area. We were not even making a dent in the crap that people were leaving behind. The funniest find was a mannequin that someone had been using for target practice. No fear everyone, the person that was aiming for this did a crappy job LOL They grazed both arms and hit the left thigh once! The rest of the body was bullet free but the tree that it was leaning against was another story!

It was a beautiful day but picking up garbage and shotgun shells were playing hell on my back and Manda was having a tough time with it as well, but we mustered on and helped in any way we could.

When it was lunchtime, yes they fed us as well; it was smokies with all the fixings with your choice of juice/ pop or water. I didn’t get to eat any of them as I was not too sure what was in the ‘chicken smokies’ and I wasn’t going to risk getting sick while out on the trail. I did have loads of the free water though because it was the brand that I normally drink.

After we were all fed and rested a bit we went back out there and everyone was talking about this one place that was a real mess. It was the place that Manda and I had started to clean, but ran out of bags after filling four of them up, after we went for a potty break up the road. We were happy to go back there and clean up and even go further into the area than we could before as there were two trucks and four guys shooting off guns there when Manda and I were there.

The guys that were camping/ shooting there were packing up pretty quickly when they saw six plus 4x4s pulling up and stopping next to the side of the road. They pretended not to understand English but you knew they did because when we moved into there area they felt so bad about all the shotgun shells and bullets and other garbage that they started to make piles of the shotgun shells by using a stick and trying to sweep them into a pile. It was hilarious!

Manda and I were in so much pain that we grabbed a plastic bag and sat down while we picked up the thousands and thousands of spent shotgun shells that people left behind. Someone asked me if I was taking a break and I said no I am picking up shotgun shells and saving my back from injury by sitting down doing it. They thought it was smart but to be honest I think I pulled a stitch when I was pulling the garbage bag up a bit.

We, Manda and I, were cleaning an area about ten feet square and even though we had filled two garbage bags full of shotgun shells, you couldn’t tell we had really done anything!

The worst part about it was that we found about 30 bullets that had not been fired in the fire pit! I am not sure of the mentality of some of the people that come up there but I am doubting that they have that many brain cells to put live ammo in or even near a fire!

From 10am until 4:30, with only an hour break, we cleaned up part of a forest service road, and you couldn’t even tell it was done at all except for the dump trucks that were driving in and out of the area full to capacity with trash.

In total I think there were about 100 4x4 trucks there and easily 200 plus people that were helping to clean up. This even was put on by the BC 4wheel drive association and local geocachers. Hubby had to work so he missed this event but he did show up at about 3pm to help for the last hour. While hubby wasn’t there I had the perfect opportunity to sign him up as a member of the 4x4 association that he has always wanted to be a part of. I borrowed the money from Justin because I didn’t have any cash on me and in the woods they don’t accept debit!

So, when hubby showed up I gave him his Easter present which was the membership and he was super happy about it, plus I get to write for the magazine anytime I like now that he is a member!

Before we left the event they had a door prize draw for all those that showed up. Hubby left to go home because he wanted to rest (his back is still hurting and so is his arm) so he gave me his ticket. I won a Back Roads Map book (I now own four of them) with my ticket. Manda won a 4ton hydraulic jack, and hubby won a 4x4 association hooded sweatshirt. Justin didn’t win anything but he wasn’t right bothered at that point because he was tired and the sun was bothering his eyes (he has blue blue eyes).

The Map book is on my desk (I already have a new one in my truck and so does hubby), the sweatshirt hubby wears and the hydraulic jack is in my truck because I don’t have a jack in there and it wont work on hubbys truck because it is so high.

We all got sun kissed while working even though we were in the shade part of the time, nothing major just a slight golden color to make us look healthy!
I will post the video when I have it uploaded.

©2011 7Ladybugs
April 23rd, 2011