The House in the early morning

We aren't running separate crews anymore, we just get so much more done when the team is working together. The original concept was to work around the clock, but it just wasn't productive. Due to the heat (over 90 degrees F today), we are also taking the hottest part of the day off (Tina, Sonia and Clarice recommend using this time to take advantage of the pool at our hotel). You can see from the photograph above that the house is in good shape with all the deck modules staged for installation.

PPE all the way round

The crane is just about to arrive and everyone is in the proper PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) for the occasion. It is early afternoon Wednesday October 3rd and the main house modules are about to go on the foundations.

Setting the foundation steel

We had a schedule of 8 hours to set the foundation steel, the team finished it in 4 hours. Enthusiasm and morale is high. There is so much activity on the Washington Mall that is strang e to think that it is 4:00 am. The trucks that were suppose to show up at 8:00 am on Wednesday morning called us at 7:00 pm on TUESDAY saying that they where ready to unload . . . but we didn't have a crane scheduled for another 12 hours. Well . . . at least they were early :)

The first trucks arrive

Initial set up

Eric Christie and Harold Remlinger set up the laser level and good old fashioned string to lay out the foundation locations.

Airport Huddle

We are here and looking good. The plan is to get to the hotel and then head out to the registration at the Department of Energy. Construction officially begins at midnight, so that gives us 10 hours to get organized.

Arrival in DC!!

yeah, this is us getting off the plane in Washington DC. Jody Washington is giving a big grin and the wave. Smooth flight (we think the pilot increased the speed of the plane cause he heard we were heading to the Decathlon . . . but the stewardess thought we were a track team in our matching Aloeterra jackets)