Tag: Camp Uskichitto

Uskichitto Week 2

Sunday, March 2, 2025

Last weekend we did laundry, rested, and bought groceries.   There was lots of rain on Saturday and Sunday, so we were inside most of the time.  There was even water over the road when we drove to church.  When it wasn’t raining, we explored the portions of the camp we didn’t visit during the work week.  We didn’t know there were high and low ropes courses and a BB gun shooting range.  We also found our way down to the river where in better weather we would have loved to be canoeing.  Unfortunately, the heavy rains had the water too high and fast to consider that possibility.

We began the work week with our team splitting up with Max, Anne, Shannon and Mariel continuing to work on the flooring in the pavilion while Gabriela, Lou, Dennis and Pam worked at the dining hall preparing the exterior for painting.  Lou also worked on the tractor.  The flooring was completed Monday with the exception of a small path leading to one bathroom.  The concrete we had to pour to level the bathroom needed more cure time and the team will finish that up during Week 3.

On Monday the camp also had someone cut down a couple of large dead trees that were a danger to a couple of cabins, so on Tuesday NOMADS did all the clean-up/removal of all the debris/limbs.

Wednesday and Thursday we all worked on the dining hall.  There was some damaged wood to be repaired, gutters to be removed, lots of cleaning and scraping, and then lots of painting.  By Thursday afternoon all the repairs had been completed and the first coat of paint had been completed.  A special thank you to the camp board members and church members who provided some wonderful Louisiana meals this week.

Friday morning at 6:00 am, we turned Fred back in the direction of South Carolina.  We hated to leave the NOMADS team and Uskichitto Retreat Center, but were thankful for the two weeks we were able to contribute to the project.  We were especially glad to reconnect with Mariel, Shannon, Dennis and Pam, and to meet Gabriela and Lou.  It was a really good two weeks. 

We made it back to Randy and Debra’s home early Saturday afternoon and we will spend the next few weeks with them except for a quick run to Florida and Alabama.  Randy who is doing much better will be having some same day surgery Thursday so please continue to keep him in your prayers.

Uskichitto Week One

Saturday February 22, 2025

When we last posted, we had just arrived at Uskichitto Retreat Center (pronounced “Whiskey Chitto”) in LeBlanc, LA.  The retreat center has five cabins to house campers for summer camp season.  The cabins are also used during the off season by businesses, clubs and church groups for weekend retreats, meetings and work sessions. We have full hookup camp sites and laundry facilities.  This a three week NOMADS project, but we will only be working the first two weeks.  Mariel and Shannon are our leaders.  It’s so good to work with them again.  We haven’t seen them since the annual meeting last year.  We have team members, Pam and Dennis who we worked with at Camp Sumatanga last year and Lou and Gabriela who we just met.  They are relatively new members from Iowa.

There is lots of work to be done at the camp, but our highest priority is replacing the flooring at the pavilion.  Monday morning it was all hands-on deck to empty out the pavilion of all the sound equipment, furniture, etc. and remove the toilets and sinks from the restrooms and store everything in a nearby building.  That done, we began using various tools to remove the old flooring. Most of the tile actually came up fairly easily.  It was all the glue that remained on the floor that was the problem.  The camp director rented us a machine that made the job easier but there was still lots of time spent on our knees scraping. It was decided that we would be using epoxy paint with color chips to replace the old tile.  After scraping all the old glue up there was dust and dirt everywhere.  Then, we began the process of cleaning the concrete mopping numerous times to get it clean.  With that huge job completed, Thursday afternoon we etched the concrete and then mopped the concrete until clean again.  The mop water had to be clear.  That’s where we left it for the weekend. 

How we had fun all week

When there was a little down time throughout the week, a few of us were able to complete some smaller projects, the repair of some leaky faucets, replacement of some steps, repair of a “soft” spot in a bathroom and window cleaning in the cafeteria.  We worked hard this week and we were rewarded with a fantastic Cajun meal Thursday night prepared by some of the ladies from Squryes UMC. The weekend will bring rest, laundry and perhaps some sight seeing.

Congaree National Park and On To Our Next Project

February 16, 2025

We returned to the US from Antarctica on Tuesday, January 29.  We made the drive back to South Carolina and pretty much just collapsed.  So very thankful for our sweet Debra who fed us the next few days while we recouped, washed clothes and reorganized everything in Fred.  After about 3 nights of sleep we felt like we were back among the living.  We still aren’t caught up on everything but we rarely are.  The great news is that Randy is feeling better and once we had rested, we were able to help him and Debra with cutting down some additional trees.

February 6 the four of us visited Congaree National Park.  It’s the only National Park in South Carolina and none of us had ever visited.  It’s located close to Columbia and is basically a day use park with no RV parking or camping.  Congaree has the largest intact expanse of old growth bottomland hardwood forest remaining in the southeastern US. There are some really huge trees in the park.  There are several nice hiking trails.  We chose the boardwalk trail and enjoyed our time in the park.  Interesting how we travel such distances and sometimes miss gems so close to home.  Congaree is a little known gem.  We would recommend a visit.

Over the next few days, we spent most of our time preparing Fred and ourselves for our next NOMADS project.  We departed SC on Valentine’s Day in route to LeBlanc, Louisianna.  We stopped in Atmore, AL to do some shopping at Warehouse Market and Bakery.  It’s one of our favorite Amish stores and we stocked up on some goodies. (Recommend a stop if you are driving by Exit 54 on I-65 in Alabama.)  We will enjoy them while we are working at Uskichitto Retreat Center helping them make some repairs to their facilities and prepare for camping season.