Little Possum Creek Bridge Building

Marco and I spent the last two days working with the Cumberland Trail Association along with the Tennessee Trails Association and other volunteers, building a bridge over Little Possum Creek. Talk about a real good group to work with, we got a lot of work done and had a good time doing it.

We left from work Sunday morning and drove down to Soddy Daisy. We got to the work site around 9:30am. It was impressive to see how they built all the scaffolding, trails, and cable systems just to start this project. They hauled in a lot of supplies including cement, wood, scaffolding, tools, and rocks.

When we got there the main bridge supports and spanners were already in place. We helped put up the sides, stringers, tighten the bolts, and start putting the wooden walking planks down.

The first day there were about eighteen volunteers. It was nice and shady in the morning, but that afternoon sun hit hard and you felt the heat! By 3:30 we were ready to call it a day. Marco and I had planned on just camping by the work site, but Tony started describing the benefits of the church camp and we had to change our minds. It started with showers and air conditioning, then went to swimming in the lake, canoeing, and free food. I had to call Mercy and give in.

We got to camp and started with a few refreshments. Then we went swimming until the dinner bell rang and we ate stir fry and hot dogs with the sides. Pretty good start. We followed up with a few games of pool and good old visiting with some occasional cough medication.

The next morning we got up to a breakfast of pancakes and oatmeal. We headed to the work site and got at it again. We had some new faces this morning and over the day had around fifteen come and go. Today we had the entertainment of Marco swimming for tools. Nancy wasn't going to be out done so she swam for some tools as well. By the time we left, it was looking like a bridge. There is plenty of work to be done as they still have to haul out all the scaffolding and fix the trail back.

As I said before, we had a great time and everyone was so friendly and helpful that it made it a wonderful project to be a part of.

Pictures