Session H: Day 2 - Start Rolling
We make our way down to breakfast on Monday morning, tired but ready for our first full day of tinkering. After a big breakfast, we circle up to hear about this week's project. We are all giddy with excitement.
Gever reveals: this week we will step away from Tinker City and become mobile, with downhill carts. We'll have full access to the road that goes through Elkus Ranch in the evenings, and we have many iterations of carts from previous weeks to Frankenstein into our own designs. We also have an assortment of wheels! Gever shows off the rubber wheels. Each group will have access to two of these, as well as two wooden wheels and two skateboard wheels. A challenge, indeed.
We have five teams this week, each making their own cart. The teams, for future reference:
PIKI: Gretchen, Jack, Rayan, G
NOOI: Lucy, Katherine, Alex, Caspar
KABLOOI: Sophia, Dalia, Milo, Braden
PANDA: Merritt, Thalia, Max, Ari
SQIKI: Vivek, Lilah, Izzy, Bryce
Kablooi decides to do some "research" about carts first. Dalia tries out one of the wagons.
Braden tests out a different rolling object, but soon finds that one of the caster wheels had been stolen by a tinkerer in the previous weeks.
Team Panda flips over a cart and starts looking at the steering mechanism. They discuss how they could incorporate that design into their own cart.
Portrait of a Collaborator: Caroline poses for Caspar while he learns how to use the camera.
Sophia gets right to work on the base of Kablooi's cart.
Vivek begins sketching out a base for the Sqiki cart with Bryce and Izzy. How big should the base be? Another part of the challenge is to make a cart that holds two tinkerers.
We're not quite sure what he's up to, but Milo is definitely having fun doing it.
Caspar, Katherine, and Lucy start measuring out for the base of the Nooi cart. There are some disputes about the direction they're going, but the team moves forward regardless.
Caroline has drawn out a big map of the course for the teams to take a look at. It's about a half-mile from the gate at the goat pen down to the gate at the bridge, with a few turns and a lot of pot holes. Gever shows where the first and second stages of the course are.
The line for the chop saw starts in earnest after a break. G waits patiently for his turn.
Vivek and Izzy work together on the base for Sqiki's cart.
Rayan and Jack cut up some lengths of pipe for axles. The train tracks from week one find new use as saw horses when the trains aren't running.
Portrait of a Collaborator: Jack ponders.
As the clouds part, Nooi tries out their new base measurements.
Vivek and Lilah are skilled Tinker Twister players.
We need lots of holes for our axles. Rayan starts up on the drill press.
Lucy puzzles out the steering mechanism on the cart while tinkerers buzz around her.
The afternoon goes on, and groups are still working out kinks in their first designs. Kablooi has a quick meeting, while Max looks over the difficulties that may arise with the wooden wheels with collaborators.
Braden gets in on the pipe-cutting action.
For a break, it's finally goat time!!
A visit to meet the goats (and other farm animals) is just what we need to rest our brains.
And the goats are happy to see us, too. Possibly just for the treats?
Leslie even introduces us to the horses in the barn.
Everyone is looking forward to spending more time closer to the animals later this week.
We encourage everyone to make whatever they want during free build time. Katherine makes some nut art.
Some tinkerers head down to the creek for some exploring before the sun goes down.
They explore the haunted house while another group goes on a sunset hike up the ridge.
We finish out the night with some hot cocoa and Steven Universe, which has quickly become a camp favorite for when there's not enough time for a movie.
With warm tummies, we amble up to our tents. Tomorrow our goal is to have rolling carts to test by evening so we can make a second iteration by the end of the week. Lots to do!