Today was the last day of our 2-week HFH RV CAV / SKP BOF build. It was our 6th day in a row, and was scheduled as a half day. There was a mix of feelings at circle: satisfaction in what we had personally and collectively accomplished; disappointment that we had not accomplished more; excitement that we were almost done; a touch of sadness that we would soon be going our own separate ways. It was also clear that most of us had an accumulated tiredness. But we had one last half day to work, and we had things to finish. We had one last reminder about safety; don’t rush, be careful on/under ladders and roofs where teammates are working, and watch your energy level.
Installing roof trusses over the front porch.
One crew finished installing siding. Another crew built a truss-like top for the front wall to fill in for a truss that had to be moved due to the front porch being foot longer than planned. Lynn and Jack continued sheeting the roof. Brett, an HFH homeowner, showed up to work and helped Brian lift roof decking up to me so I could hand it to Lynn and Jack. When they were far enough along, I nailed off the roof sheets with the air nailer. The Lindas finished the bedroom closet, installed the living room closet, and removed diagonal cross-bracing from the interior.
The house as far as we were able to build it.
11:00 AM came quickly and we packed up the tools, stacked unused materials, and picked up the site. The house was not closed in as the windows had not yet arrived on site, the front and rear hip roofs still needed to be sheeted, and the roof shingles had yet to be installed. But it was clearly a house, and it was structurally sound.
After lunch, which included a very nice salad, we all made a final check of the site and then returned to our rigs. Linda and several others headed to the laundry room and most of us started readying our rigs for departure the next morning.
Matt and Julie.
At 4:30 PM we started gathering for our caravan to Dave and Karen’s house in Big Horn just south of Sheridan. Dave is a founding member of the Eastern Bighorn HFH affiliate and the current treasurer. They gave us a thank you dinner and a comfortable place to sit, relax, and be together as a group one last time. The meal included several vegetable dishes, including grilled beets from their garden. Matt, the executive director of the Eastern Bighorn HFH affiliate, and his wife Julie were also there.
Wherever/whenever Escapees gather there are hugs all around, and so it was tonight. It was a nice way to cap off our first HFH build.
The view looking south from Dave and Karen’s back yard.
Howdy!
Finally catching up on the blog and on the Build – thank you for doing the daily progress and photos.
“Youze guyz” looked to have had an excellent 2nd week. You hit the nail on the head with your observations about the mixed emotions that always mark the last day of the Build – lots done, not as much done as we’d hoped, we did really well, I’m tired but that was fun, and the like.
Good call on the how to take care of the beams vs. pads problem. You’ll find that the solution to problems almost always comes from the Build Team – we’ve got more perspective and experience collectively than the supe, even if not everyone on the Build has built before.
“Uncle Steve”
Thanks Steve. I still need to gather up some of our photos, put them in a Dropbox folder, and send the link to the whole team. Based on Internet access and time, that may have to wait until we get home.