Pay It Forward Tour, Days 1-6

Days One- Three~

Nebraska, Colorado, Santa Fe

As I write this, I am riding in a bus through Castle Rock, Colorado. I am currently passing the Outlet Mall at Castle Rock. I look out the window to my rights, and I see the most beautiful mountains, I look out the left and see gorgeous rock formations. Yes, we are en route from Denver, Colorado, to Santa Fe, New Mexico. And I couldn’t be more excited for the south! I have had the best experience, met the best people, and have seen the best cities!
We Started at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities on March 9th, 2007. We set out towards Silver Creek, Nebraska, a town of 430 of the friendliest people in Nebraska. We took a stop in Ames, Iowa, for lunch at 1:00pm. When we arrived in Nebraska, we were welcomed into the “village” with a sign, and the generous folk of Nebraska! We stayed in a High School, built in 1910, in their “new” gym. We went to a fish fry for dinner, and gossiped with the town folk. Morning came way to soon, I was exhausted after the long, eight hour trip.
When we woke, the townspeople had prepared egg bake and doughnuts for us. After breakfast, we went to work! I, along with 4 others, cleaned windows in a four unit apartment building for the disabled, and single parents. We cleaned the windows very fast, so we decided to play with the neighbor kids, whose mom owns the Cafe in town. She was at work and, in a town of 400 people, it is perfectly acceptable to leave the young-in's home alone. We played with two little girls, Madeline, 5, and Katie, 5, and Katie’s older brother Dustin, 10. We played hide and go seek, and air hockey with them, and the time passed fast. Before we knew it, it was time to leave Silver Creek, and set out on the long journey ahead to Denver, Colorado.
We arrived in Denver after a long bus ride of games, music, movies, and RAIN! It was raining in Denver, but that didn’t dampen our mood. We explored downtown Denver, went out to eat, and saw the house where the Real World, Denver was filmed. Awesome! I ate with some of the friends that I met on the bus, at the Rocky Mountain Diner. The food was delicious, and the conversation was great. We slept that night in a Baptist Church, in a neighborhood, (to quote the Minister) with high gang activity. But everything was fine. Slept well, and got up the next morning prepared for our Service Project.
We went to the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Reserve. We built a bison fence well looking out on the B-E-A-Utiful Rocky Mountains. We cleaned up all of the scraps from the fence (5 mile long, by 5 mile wide) and cleaned all of the tumble weeds, and even found a cactus, we named Sonic.
We boarded the bus after our service project, and that takes me to where I am now. Somewhere between Denver, Colorado, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.


Day Four~

Santa Fe

Santa Fe is Amazing! I really enjoyed my time spent here. We arrived in Santa Fe later at night, the sun was setting as we drove in. We were driving through the hills, and the rain was coming down lightly, and the sun was shining, reflecting a golden light off of the hills, and later a green light shone from the trees on top of the hills. It was awesome. We rolled into the place that we were going to stay, and clean the next day, the Boys and Girls Club of Santa Fe. We had this massive facility all to ourselves. I stayed up pretty late, but surprisingly was awake and ready to go by 7:45am.
Breakfast was prepared for us by the operator of the club. After we ate, we started our service project. We were split into groups, some cleaning the gym, and others cleaning bathrooms, and also organizing the facility. I was part of the team that cleaned the gym, after sweeping and mopping the gym floor, we got the balls unstuck from the windows that were high up, by using a sky jack. That was a good time, I haven't been in one in years.
We finished our project, and the club looked awesome. The operator gave us a thank you, and then drove us in buses to the downtown area. Unlike most large cities, there were no large sky scrapers, or huge office buildings. They were all really unique, and that Santa Fe style you see in the magazines. We explored the shops, and took pictures of the architecture. We ate at a street vendor making fajitas. BAD idea. I felt a little sick after, but I think it was fine. We talked with some of the street vendors selling various items, and then returned to our buses, and headed back for the club, to load the coach we have been driving in for the last four days.
We are now on our way to El Paso, Texas. Tonight we will be doing another service project immediately following our arrival, and dinner. We are working with children at a lock in, ages 9-15. This is the only time that we will have 2 service projects in one day. We have the entire day off tomorrow, to explore El Paso. Im on the bus, and we are watching Mean Girls, so Peace!
Going into day 5
Santa Fe, El Paso Texas
We arrived at the YWCA in El Paso, and they had prepared an all mexican meal for us to enjoy, which for me was a challenge, it is hard for me to step outside my box as far as food goes, but I enjoyed it none-the-less. There was a lock in at the Y tonight, and most of the kids attending are labeled “children at risk” meaning they live in rough neighborhoods, and many have been a victim of gang-violence, or are in a gang themselves. It was kind of intimidating/scary, because being a suburban mid western person, I have never been exposed to such a life, and the whole time all I could think was thank God I didn't grow up like this, and thank god my brother doesn't have to either. One kid talked of a gun shot wound that he had, and even showed it to us. Another talked openly about being in a gang, and showed us gang symbols, and talked about some rival gang members that were also in attendance at the lock in. He assured us he would “try his best” to not start something. None-the-less, it was still frightening to think that some kids grow up in such a world. Many of these children’s parents are in jail, in a gang, or struggling with drugs. It is just sad.
Tomorrow morning we get to sleep in! The bus will leave for Downtown El Paso at 9:30, and we will explore downtown, and even go into Juarez, Mexico, and do some exploring there. We have until 3:30 p.m. to explore before departing for Odessa, Texas. Home of Friday Night Lights!

Day 5-6

El Paso, Texas; Odessa, Texas

The lock in was, well...interesting. There were a lot of mixed emotions regarding what we were doing, and how we were impacting these children. It was, to say the least, challenging. After we did activities, I looked at the clock, and found it hard to believe that it was already 2am, but as I have learned, staying up late is not at all unusual.
I went to the dance that they held for the children for a little while, but soon found that it was way too hot, and I was wayy to tired. I went to sleep, and boy am I glad, because It made my experience in Juarez Mexico, and also my experience in El Paso way more enjoyable.
We arrived at the convention center, and we were obvious tourists. We then passed through the border, and into Mexico! It was my first time leaving the country! It was an immediate shock, it was so different from El Paso, and I saw immediate changes. People on the streets begging for money, selling bracelets and pipes just to get by.
We explored the shops, and I bought a bootleg copy of Casino Royale, which actually came out today, and I only paid 4 dollars, or 40 Pesos. We found some interesting restaurants, and decided to hold out until we found something better. And boy, am I glad that we did. We went to a wonderful restaurant, and great drinks, and a wonderful meal.
We needed to get back to the United States, so we left, and crossed the border again, which is wayy easier than it seems! We got through by showing an ID, and saying “US Citizen.” Anyone could get through! We went back to the convention center, and then boarded the bus, and set out for Odessa, Texas!