GCCOC - Grove City College Outing Club Alumni Association

Electronic Edition, Mark Place Alumni Cabin Manager
The Summer outing went off as planned July 13-16th. The weather generally cooperated with temperatures much lower than last year, and just enough rain to keep the dust down.
A nice turnout of all ages, 5 Young's and 2 friends, Dan Young's father Bob and brother Scott, Henry Limmer and his new wife (some honeymoon Henry), Mitch and Julie Brown and a friend from church, Lee McCoy, Jason Ritchwine, Active Club President Manda Adams with her friend Werner, Scott Davis, Betsy Pluss, Cory Gibson, Tom & Jane Gregg with their 3 kids, Sara Otto and Ron Lang resting up before the wedding, and Glenn McMunn. (Did I miss anyone? Sorry)
Every Summer outing starts out with a project list and we go from there. Somehow, it always seems to get modified a bit.
	This year the focus was the road as we were having trouble getting even big 4WD trucks down, and the silt run-off was killing the yard and the drains. After a lot of thought and investigation, we contracted with Marlowe Construction under the supervision of Dan's brother Scott. We also conned Scott into operating a rented Bobcat the first day. Well 70 tons of crushed stone, 30# of shade grass seed, 10 bails of staw, lots of hand raking, and 21 hours on the Bobcat later, the road and cleaned up walking trails are done.
We did more grading than planned, but less than Marlowe recommended. It was pointed out that except for minor repairs in 76 and ~'83, this was the first major road project since 59-60 when the logging was done. Hopefully this will last a while. The road looks like a Honda could handle it, but be ware, it is still slick during and immediately after a rain. The intent is for folks to still walk down unless hauling the food or tools etc.
In summary what we did was divert the water from the winding main road starting in the game commission lot and all the way down. We applied 1-3" diameter limestone in the high wear and steep areas only. The two old roads on the top � were raked and reseeded. The lower right (straighter) road was designated the walking path by the "experts". It was graded to remove the ankle busting gullies and heavily seeded and mulched with straw. All walking paths were provided with decorative field stone barriers to vehicle traffic.
The very important french/curtain drain in the upper yard was dug out and new stone installed in the high traffic area. A good 6" of silt was removed around the drain also. This provided some entertainment when one unnamed Bobcat operator who is not going to give up his day job (or back brace) tested the laws of gravity.
	Limmer Roofing with help from Sara Otto finished the roof projects started last year by doing the front and rear porch roofs.
Julie and Linda led the inside cleaning and sweeping team with any willing hands pitching in.
Both woodsheds were found basically empty. Part of the roadwork was removing almost a dozen standing dead trees waiting to fall on the road. Dan, Mitch and Henry got these down and the young folks used the quad to haul them around back. By the end of the weekend, the big shed was full and a start made on the small one. Hopefully Ron Lang "splitter extraordinair" will recover before the honeymoon.
Every outing brings a few surprise projects. This year Dan had the help to get down some huge trees endangering the girl's outhouse. After winching down some difficult ones, Dan went after an "easy one" sans winch. When I heard the 3 bounce thud, I told Henry "that sound like when I laid one on the roof and took off the end porch a few years ago" The follow-up yelling confirmed that the roof of the outhouse was history. A brush back for Mitch and a near miss on some bystanders. A long day later, Henry and helpers had a new and improved roof in place matching the cabin roof.
	Since we had the Bobcat, the swamp out back was addressed. A slotted drain was installed along with field stone abutments and drains. It may need extended a bit, but the climb over bridge and rotted plywood are gone! A true double wheel barrow highway.
Of course all this road work and site cleaning took its toll on the front and back yard which has been very soft with all the rain and the clogged drains. All the roof debris was removed and the damaged areas seeded and mulched. Thanks to Tom Gregg we were able to haul the last of the roof debris into GCC using Henry's trailer so the upper and lower piles are gone.
Just to stay busy we also adjusted all the gas lights and tuned up the inside fridge. Charlie the gas man came up and adjusted the gas pressure for us. We think dirty gas and high pressure was causing the strong smell in the cabin and the failing mantles. Since this work was done, the inside smell is all but gone and the lights seem to burn better. The pump is loosing it's prime to fast again so we serviced the foot valve outside also. The problem is still there and will be addressed.
Not to fear time was found to eat pretty well and to go for a swim each night.
A great weekend with thanks to all who pitched in financially or with hands on help.