![[Image Description: Two MCC members taking a brief break; one is sitting on a rock, the other is standing nearby. They are both in their uniforms, looking out at the expansive, mountain view surrounding them.]](https://cdn.firespring.com/images/c3f85e97-43a9-4810-8081-e8e6338173d0.jpeg)
We were lied to in Sturgis, South Dakota. We met a man with an ice cream shop claiming to be a hero and a friend of Jelly Roll (which was not the case, but did make us laugh). We got free hats, so it wasn’t a total loss. In many ways, that is a great analogy for this hitch: "not a total loss".
We were tasked with spraying BLM land in the Black Hills area, primarily focusing on a very steep hill. Unfortunately, it rained on Wednesday, then Thursday, and then Friday (afternoon), which prevented us from spraying.
On Thursday, it rained again, so we were tasked with cleaning up a gun range. This involved grabbers, heavy-duty trash bags, Paige’s speaker, and a whole lot of patience. We are the best crew in GY, so we finished it very quickly. In turn, our project partner gave us the afternoon off, and we embarked on a journey to a tower of evil. We went on a beautiful hike, on a poorly built trail, around the remarkable tower of evil, and were thanked by many people for work that they didn’t know we hadn't done. But we graciously accepted their thanks anyway.
We woke up to a beautiful Friday morning, ready to spray and literally dancing with excitement as Paige mixed our deadly weed-killing liquid. But spraying in formation down a hill is hard, so we messed it up quite a bit. After OSHA, after deciding to resolve our snafu, I suddenly had a seizure. I tumbled down the hill, ruining our first solid work day.
The crew reacted quickly, even though the local emergency services did not. EMS showed up and took me to a local hospital, where I was taken care of. As the crew put it, “Seizure boy gets whatever he wants.” I wanted a cheeseburger, which was way too expensive and not that good, but a cheeseburger nonetheless. I can’t comment much on the next few days because of the concussion I got from the fall. But I did manage to sleep in a variety of places: on a picnic table, the ground, dish bins, and Madz’s hammock. But if I could guess, the best crew in GY worked hard and did the best they could with the time they had left. I can’t thank my crew enough for the empathy and patience they showed throughout the hitch and during my seizure.
