Riding in Vans with Corps Members

I think that our Team Leaders (TL) and Unit Leader (UL) are trying to prepare us for riding in the van for hours at a time. Last week I got to see a lot of Denver and the surrounding areas. On Monday we did the van confidence course, so basically we drove around cones, backed around cones, and practiced parking without hitting cones. So essentially our team practiced sitting in the van all afternoon. Tuesday we drove with the staff from the office and my team was lucky enough to drive with Ken, the region director. Big deal, I know. We drove all over Denver and stopped at Red Rocks Amphitheater, A mountain top near Denver, and Evergreen, Co. I drove up the first mountain and got to pass crazy bikers  pumping up the mountain, if you think passing bikers is scary on the road, try it up a curvy mountain in a 15 passenger van. The next day we drove to Boulder (which is a beautiful and awesome town I want to explore more later) and we went to the celestial seasonings factory which was awesome. Thursday we got to further explore the Denver area further and drove 3 hours to Rocky Mountain National Park and it was also super beautiful (are you sensing a trend here?). I again volunteered to drive home in the mountains which was crazy because it was dirt roads and construction. On friday we rode in the vans for another 6 hours to go to Colorado Springs to help with fire restoration. This was another really beautiful drive and we got to go past Garden of the Gods. I again drove back on gravel mountain roads and this time through Denver traffic, which was scarier to me than the mountain roads, but I survived. So after about 24+ hours in the van, I am certifiably a 15 passenger van driver for NCCC. I also officially know how much it sucks to ride in a 15 passenger van for 6 hours a day. Mission Accomplished NCCC, Mission Accomplished.

 

(I’ve tried about 3 times to upload pictures from this awful dorm internet and it’s not working. So pictures well be added to this post next time I go to the library, I promise!)