Arrival

Lauren Guthrie giving her team a thumbs up as she installs one of the many modules atop her build site

Day One Spokane Solar Trip!

We arrived at DIA pretty early in the morning and the excitement was evident. I could tell that all of us felt some degree of nervousness but also a huge amount of excitement, so the overall energy was positive. The flight there was uneventful and so was getting the rental car- for the students at least. I have a clear image in my head of Boyce turning around with a frazzled look on his face, his hair all over the place, giving a quick headcount, and proceeding to run through the airport to the rental cars.

We arrived at the campsite in no time and the view was amazing. We overlooked a big lake surrounded by forest with birds chirping and territorial marmots clicking from their rocks. I think we all breathed a collective sigh of relief to have made it to camp and to be away from the drama of real life for a while.

We explored the lake, hung up hammocks, played cards, and complained about being hungry for a couple hours and really started to bond as a group. It was so relaxing and nice to finally feel like I could take a moment to breathe and actually have an hour feel like an hour instead of a minute. I don’t remember the last time I wasn’t concerned about to do lists or rushing from one thing to the next. This day was an opportunity to stop and smell the roses, or the wildflowers in our case.

Soon enough Boyce and Conley arrived with pizzas and we all ate an unhealthy amount an hour before the dinner of quesadillas, but it was worth it. We had a campfire and made s’mores and laughed at some hilarious jokes before going to bed before sunset. The amount of sleep on this trip was actually surprisingly high. Overall day one set a solid foundation for the rest of our trip and created a positive and laid back attitude going into the following days of work.

-Lauren Guthrie