A bunch of us visited the WRC land this last weekend. We worked some, and played some... but accomplished everything that was planned.

While waiting for the whole noble assembly to arrive on Saturday morning, Whit didn't waste time, and established the water pipe connection between the water meter and our 3,000 gallon water storage tank. We need to organize a little better to be on time for work... It is a real challenge though, as people actually have to travel 70-80 miles in the weekend traffic to the meeting spot, and then continue together on the dirt road up to the land.

We primed, glued and connected 500 feet of 2" PVC water pipes. Then we removed the angular stones from the trenches, cleared the fill of any rocks, and lowered the water pipes in the trench all the way from the storage tank to the water distribution center located by the outhouse and future showers down the hill on parcel 20. Good that we did it! It's raining cats and dogs now on the land, and due to a high clay content in the soil, the pipe-fitting job would turn into rolling in the sticky and heavy mud, hadn't we done it this weekend. Thx, guys and gals!

We stained the interior and exterior of the outhouse, which was also important to do before the rainy season sets in. Good job, team!

We surveyed and mapped out the exact GPS coordinates of parcels 4 and 20 property lines, water lines, key locations and existing infrastructure on the parcel 20 [outhouse, proposed shower and grilling areas, proposed spot for the first meditation cabin]. Let us tell you - this is a lot of leg work to keep a city folks in shape... We still need to GPS roads and take additional measurements for the water lines, but the existing data was already sufficient for our architects to start tracing the topography and transforming the 2-D map of the land into a 3-D model within a context of the Master Plan. Francisco and Mike worked the whole day on Monday, and complemented our surveyors Sascha, Simone, Whit and Ron for a great and precise job!

We didn't pressure-test the water line and didn't fill and cover the trench, because we failed to make the final water line joint fit properly. Because of the curve of the trench, the angle between the galvanized steel pipe from the water distribution center and the incoming water line is too sharp. Whatever we tried we couldn't fit them together tight, and since this very bottom joint has to withstand an enormous pressure, we have to find a different technical solution. Most likely Whit will pick-up a 2" metal union and a 22° angular connector to join the pipes, which will remove unnecessary pressure from the joint and allow for a snag fit.

We found a perfect spot for our 14' tall, 20' x 20' tent we are planning to use during our first ever Meditation Retreat in WRC.

And finally, we had a very productive discussion about our first meditation cabin: potential location, design, building materials, budget, time frame, and last but not least, the manpower necessary to complete the job. Exact details to be announced in the near future...

Friends, check the Gallery out, and get a feeling of this weekend for yourselves...