Friday evening:
I headed down to Area 5 at Hollister Hills a little later than planned after being tied up with work. Fortunately, I made it in time to catch the tail end of the potluck. After filling my belly, I "set up camp", which was mostly just rearranging some stuff since I planned to sleep in the back of my Jeep. Meanwhile, some club members had set up a campfire and a temporary movie screen to watch some shows, and I eventually joined. After some entertainment, I headed back to my Jeep for the night. It got a bit chilly overnight, and I was glad I had a warm sleeping bag.
Saturday morning:
I was up with the sun, and before I knew it, students started showing up with their rigs. I shadowed vehicle inspections as students arrived and got checked in. A little before 9am, I got in line with my Jeep to help shuttle students over to the classroom.
Upon returning to Area 5, it was time for me to meet up with Joe K. to set up the tire placement course, which I had been assigned to work in the afternoon. Joe explained to me the whys and the hows of running the tire placement exercise. Then he started placing the "boulders" and "trees" while having me test drive the course to check that it wasn't too easy nor impossible. Once done with setup, we had a little bit of downtime before the classroom instruction finished and it was time for us to shuttle the students back to Area 5.
In the afternoon, Joe and I guided the students through the tire placement course as they rotated through. The first three groups came back to back to back, with little time for breaks for us. We finally got quite a long break before the last group arrived. Throughout the afternoon, I observed that the drivers ranged from timid to experienced. And, I was pleased to see roughly 12 ladies driving, including a 17-year-old, quite a few more compared to last year when I took the clinic.
At the end of the afternoon, we picked up the course, and pretty soon it was time for dinner. Mmmmm...BBQ, hot dogs, and sides, as well as ice cream for dessert. It was also a great opportunity to chat with club members, other prospectives, and even a student who might be interested in showing up to a future newbie run.
Overall, I had a great time even though I was pretty tired by the end of it. It seemed like a great event from my little corner of it.
-Joanna (prospective)