Last round in AmeriCorps! Hang on to your seats cuz it's gonna be a crazy ride! Heading into this round, we were all very anxious to see what was in store. We knew the type of work that we would be doing (beach clean ups, building sculptures, giving tours in the exhibit), but we also had to prepare for some living arrangements that none of us were really used to. That's camping for 6 weeks, cooking off of a 2 burner Coleman grill and storing our food in the back of a truck. It's not the worst living scenario but it's still something that we would have to adapt to as a team.
Blue 4 headed to Bandon, Oregon, located oceanside in Southwest corner of Oregon. We took two vehicles. Blue Ox, of course, and also the newest member of Blue 4: The Ambassador. I had the honor of driving the Ambassador, a beast 2012 Dodge Ram 1500 to Oregon from Sacramento. We arrived safely to Bandon, Oregon on June 3, set up camp and prepared for work the following day.
The Ambassador and Myself <3
The Man-Cave. Home of Hunter, Michael, and myself
We were given a tour of all the beaches we will be cleaning up by our coworkers Justin and Abe. We swung by Art 101, where we process all the garbage that we found, and went to the Washed Ashore exhibit, where Angela, the founder of the organization was. We were given a more thorough tour of the exhibit, learning about all sorts of neat stuff!
We began working with Washed Ashore by doing beach clean ups. Here, we would walk 4-6 miles each way, sometimes in 60 MPH winds, dragging 100 pounds of debris back to the Blue OX. You can say that this helped us stay in shape. We would find tires, water bottles, fishing gear, styrofoam, and so much more!
Hard Days Work
After collecting the debris, we brought it to Art 101 to clean it, sort it, and cut it into pieces for the sculpture. Inside the yurt, we would jam out to everything from African Grooves, to the 1998 Grammy Awards show, to the Beatles. It was a blast working in here.
We would then bring the art supplies to the Washed Ashore exhibit, where we would help volunteers put together the pieces properly. Since Bandon is a tourist town, many of the volunteers are actually tourists from all over the globe. We also gave tours of the exhibit. Having to interact with people from different backgrounds was very interesting. Some people were so shocked by the amount of debris that has been collected off the beaches. Some were disgusted, as one lady even said that "We all deserve to go to hell!", and some were hopeful because they finally saw people taking action in cleaning up the beaches. Too get a small electronic glimpse of these sculptures, click THIS LINK.
To receive a tour of the exhibit by Curly and Cactus, just click the Play button!!
Blue 4 had a blast working with Washed Ashore. We met some very amazing people, including Mary Johnson, who made sure Blue 4 was spoiled beyond belief. For Father's Day, she invited the team over to her house and BBQ chicken and ribs. Like I said, she SPOILED us. A fun fact about Mary, she has one of the greatest voices on this planet. Her band, Done Deal, played on the 4th of July and Blue 4 was there for the bands support!
For our last day of work, Angela invited Blue 4 over, as well as all the coworkers and some volunteers. She has a beautiful house on a lake and we went swimming, at fish and 50 pounds more of food, had a jam session, made s'mores, and even lit of fireworks. It was a great day and I will never forget how much fun we had in Bandon, Oregon. Finishing out the last work day of AmeriCorps NCCC was a very strange feeling. Packing the tents into the Ambassador, and throwing our red bags into the Blue Ox was also a very strange feeling. Washed Ashore treated us very well and they will forever be in my heart. Thanks for reading the Round 4 update, and I will have one more blog to conclude the overall experience.
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