First Roll of the Season

I was awakened from a deep sleep at 4:45pm by a text message from Brian asking when we were going out for sushi. I texted back that I'd get with Jeff and let him know. Still half asleep I called Jeff, who despises text messaging.

"Refurb sucks!" he declared. "What are you doing?"

"I'm sleeping" I mumbled.

"I've been doing laundry all day and I just got my sleeping bag done. Did you get anything done today?" He asked.

I proceeded to tell him about how my car door had been left open in my haste to get to work the day we left for Arizona and since we had been gone 18 days, the battery had completely died and when Gwen and Brian came over to jump it, it set off the car alarm I didn't know I had. After push starting the car and dropping it off at the mechanic to get the alarm removed I had taken my second nap of the day. After picking it up, I went into my third.

Eighteen 16 hour days will take it's toll on anybody, and 2 mandatory (paid) days off afterwards are hardly enough to recover, let alone do everything that needs to be done to be ready to go back out again (refurb). Nasty, smelly laundry needs to be washed (twice?), refrigerators need to be cleaned out and stocked with boxes of opened baking soda to absorb the smell, sleeping bags need to be aired out or washed, and red bags (our away bags) need to be restocked with clean underwear, socks, a new t-shirt and another packet of baby wipes.

We took two days to reach Arizona, stopping briefly for gas and food every few hours. We prepositioned in Payson for the red flag weather they were predicted to have. After a couple days of doing project work for the local forest, we sprung a fire two hours north in Williams. The base of the fire was at 7500ft and the top at 9000. Imagine my horror. The first day was spent in 30 mile an hour winds with spot fires as far as a mile out. We burned between the fire and a dozer line in order to create a good solid black line to stop the fire. We all got take-out Denny's for dinner: steak and mashed potatoes and slept in sleeping bags.

The next couple days were spent hiking around in the high altitude in steep terrain in deep sand and gravel. Northern Arizona is actually quite pleasant with lots of pine trees and some terrific weather. It's also got it's brutal altitude though. A couple nights we "spiked out" on the fire line. Helicopters flew in supplies for us as well as our sleeping bags and food and water. We made a camp fire, ate MRE's and slept in our bags. The first night up there I awoke to the sound of tools scraping in the dirt. I figured some one was just trying to put out our camp fire that had gotten stirred up in the wild winds. After awhile of listening to it, I decided to check it out. I put on a pair of pants and threw my boots on over bare feet. I didn't bother to lace them up, grabbed a headlamp and took off toward the sound. I made it to the camp fire and no one was there. The sound was coming from down the hillside a ways, but I definately recognized it as tools scraping in the dirt. I went down the hill until I could see headlamps and an orange glow. I looked around wondering what to do. I had no idea who was down there or why, but I had seen the captain get out of his sleeping bag a little earlier. He must be down there.

I started down the mountain towards the lights. I cursed myself for not putting my glasses in my flight bag and I hadn't taken the time to put on socks, let alone contact lenses. The lights were futher down than I anticipated and I stopped briefly to consider what I was doing. What if those guys weren't from my crew? There were 3 other crews up there. What if they weren't friendly? I put aside my doubts and continued down. When I got close I called out the captain's name. To my relief he answered. One of the guys had gotten up to put our camp fire out and had noticed the spot fire down below us. It was a good thing he had, it could've taken out all 4 crews up on the hill. Since I had no helmet, no tools, and no long sleeve fire shirt, I served as a lookout to make sure they were safe. Three hours later the fire was out and we crawled back into bed. Two hours after that, we were back up and working.

We spent a couple nights there and then left that fire and went to a fire in Alpine, AZ. The weather was just as nice (highs of about 80) but the altitude was 9000ft. Thankfully the terrain there was relatively flat. Back at the fire in Williams, a new nickname for me was born. For some reason most of my nicknames don't stick, maybe it's more of a guy thing. After a grueling hike up the hill, my superintendent approached me and said I need to get more leg strength. He said I have plenty of endurance but lack the strength to go uphill with a 35lb pack on my back (at a good speed). I agreed and said my legs felt like little noodles trying to get up the hill. He laughed and said that's my new nickname: Noodle. A couple days later he sent a guy down the hill to help put out some burning logs. He said "Take Noodle with you" then asked if the name offended me. It didn't, I actually found it quite funny.

So I went 11 days without a shower, a new record for me. It would've been 12 but my scalp was itching so bad on day 11 that it was affecting my ability to work. Most pairs of underwear lasted 3 or 4 days before being changed and my socks went for about 4 or 5. My t-shirt, fire shirt and nomex pants went 16 days. On the 2 days travel home, it's tradition to travel clean. That way we don't offend the public or otherwise make a bad name for ourselves.

No one snapped on this roll, which is a good sign. Usually on long assignments there's at least one person that "snaps". It's like the postal service thing, only this one is usually caused by lack of sleep, camp crud and living in too close of quarters with 21 other smelly people who are just as tired.

Ahh, onto what hurts, what did hurt, and what's going to hurt tomorrow when I put my boots back on. Right now my feet still hurt. My knees and ankles are doing a lot better. So our boots have a hard wooden shank, or footbed. It's wood for a couple reasons. Number 1, it's strong and sturdy. 2, it doesn't heat up as much as a metal shank like other work boots have (but still gets plenty hot, believe me). 3, It can't be a nice soft cushy rubber because rubber melts when you walk through hot ash, which we do on a regular basis. Ever walked in dutch wooden clogs? Ever walked in them on a steep slanted slope with a 35lb pack on for 16 hours every day for 18 days? At one point, my ankles and feet were so swollen that I could hardly get them back in my boots in the morning. I considered sleeping in my boots to eleviate the problem. People have fat pads on the bottom of their feet, kinda like a natural built in cushion. Mine no longer exist. They disentigrated on day 6. By day 10 I was popping 4 ibruprofen and a vicodin every six hours. They hurt so bad I could hardly stand. I watched the other guys shift their feet back and forth to try to take the weight off. On steep slopes, we dug a little trench so we could stand on flat ground, if only for a few moments. I cannot describe how excruciating it was.

So now that I've been off them for 3 days, they aren't so bad. They hurt a little so I try not to walk around much. I bought a couple shoe inserts that I'm going to try. Hopefully it helps.

We got home the day before yesterday and are on day 2 of our 2 days off. Not nearly long enough. We go back to work tomorrow and will probably work the 4th of July holiday, which takes place on one of our regularly scheduled days off. I just got a massage and have been taking long deep naps every couple of hours. As a matter of fact, I think I'm due for another.

At one point it occured to me that we were working 80hr work weeks. For 2 weeks. Not at a desk or in a super market. On steep rugged terrain carrying heavy packs and swinging tools. Today at my massage, the therapist was working on some lymph nodes or something, kinda close to my armpits. It was quite uncomfortable, but she laughed and said I sure was tough "Not even a flinch". Maybe if I expose myself to enough pain and discomfort I'll become immune to it.