Santa Monica National Recreation Area Week Three

Hello again everybody!

I can't believe my third work week in the Santa Monica Mountains has come to an end. Time is flying!

For this week I spent my time with the Facilities Management division. This group of men and women were lots of fun to work with and I learned a lot. I am used to working with my hands, however I got to do some jobs that were totally new to me.

For example, my first day working I spent the day with three people named Dan, Tom, and Riley. The day started off with a bang when we had to go pump out some bathrooms at the park. This was definitely a unique experience for me. First, Tom and I filled up a water truck to bring over to the bathroom. We then met up with a contracted company that supplied the "vacuum truck" (the PG name for it).

The "vacuum truck" and the water truck

All of us worked together to vacuum up the waste while using the water to make sure it was as clean as possible. The last step was to make sure the bathroom was disinfected and smelled nice. The process itself took about an hour or so to complete.

Action shot of pumping the bathroom

After this job we had a task to go solve a water problem at one of the law enforcement ranger's homes. We drove all the way to his place, which was about an hour away, to check and see what was wrong. We ended up finding a HUGE pipe burst around the complex. All we could do that day was turn off the water and to plan the course of action. Tom and Dan looked to see all of the parts that they would need and planned how they would approach it. I wish I had a photo but unfortunately I was not thinking about that at the time! To give a visual, the leak literally created a creek.

The next day I worked with Shelly. Shelly's job that day was to check and see if one of the trails (Zuma trail) were ROV friendly. So we picked up the ROV with a trailer and drove it up to the trail head. She ended up letting me drive which was so much fun! The trail was beaten up which made the off-roading so fun. Fun until we got to a really rough part and I accidentally popped a tire on the ROV (more interns more problems, right?). As Shelly saw me face palm she laughed and said this happens all of the time which made me feel better. Clearly the trail was not ROV friendly so we turned it around and brought back the news to the maintenance crew. After we dropped off the equipment we helped unload a shipment of wood for building tables.

My third day working we started out with a training which they have every Thursday. We talked about heat exhaustion which is a real problem in California when the temperatures start to consistently be in the triple digits. We talked about ways to prevent it such as staying hydrated, taking breaks, not working alone and looking out for your coworkers. After this I was with a guy named Larry. Larry has been working for the park service since he was 19 (that was in 1987!!). He had a plethora of stories to say the least.

Larry has saved all of his hats he ever owned working for the parks. The top one was the very first he got in 1987!

His main job is trail work so we went up to a part of the Zuma trail to do upkeep.

Larry doing some trail maintenance. This is actually the spot where I popped the tire with the ROV! Good times.

I was there to spot him because where we were was actually really dangerous. We were on a cliffside and Larry was working a machine so if anything went awry I was there to help him or make a call.

Larry taking a quick break. You may not be able to tell from the photo but this is a VERY treacherous part. The angle on the sides is incredibly steep which is why Larry always likes a spotter.

My last day was an interesting day. I worked with Brandon, my supervisor, to strip a car. This was something I have never done before so it was quite interesting. We picked up the car, brought back, and just totally gutted it. I had a good amount of fun doing it! The entire process did end up taking a full 9ish hours.

A different car but this is essentially what it looked like before we put our hands on it.

Really getting in there tearing up the inside.

Some of the inside parts. Also just a tad bit dusty.

Taking off the logos was actually pretty grueling. You had to use a heat gun and something to slowly peal it off. Heat gun plus the California sun is not a good time.

Done with the logos! Now all is left is to try to remove the adhesive.

WE'RE OFFICIALLY DONE! No police lights, no logos, and no gun racks! Just your average Chevy Tahoe!

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS:
I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the maintenance crew! The people there were very nice and willing to share their experiences and opinions with me which I am grateful for. When people are motivated to pour into you it makes the experience one hundred times better. In this division there are many hardships that I have noticed. A few examples are that they have computers from the 1990s, the equipment they use in the field is old, and they have not had a supervisor in two years. There are all of these obstacles yet everyone has a relatively positive attitude which I have a lot of respect for.