october 2016 | by leia reedijk
We knew some of the sites along the Rock Creek Trail in Hillsboro, Oregon could pose challenging for our installation of wayfinding signage. The area floods regularly and the trail is completely under water for parts of the year. Because of that, I was anxious to get all our 51 signs in before Oregon’s notorious rain started and the sites became inaccessible.
I woke up the morning of our install to find that the forecast predicted a 99% chance of rain. Oh boy... We went out into the field, hoping the meteorologists were very wrong.
There are always challenges on an install. Maybe you discover there is a sewer main exactly where the client wanted a sign, or your adhesive suddenly won’t adhere. After a few installs, you quickly learn there is a solution to every problem. For this installation, there were plenty of challenges.
First, it started to rain. Then, the truck started having problems. Then, we realized we didn’t have a tool we needed. And then, it started really raining hard. That’s when it started to feel like the universe was plotting against us—and the install was never going to be finished! It is at these critical moments when the team has to persevere and rely on each other (because, of course, the install has to get finished).
That’s what we did. We moved methodically and took one site at a time. The rain pelted down, but we focused on the hole we were digging, the sign we were leveling, the batch of concrete we were mixing. Our clothes were soaked through, but every team member knew their task so we could work as efficiently as possible. By the end of the third day, our boots were full of water. We were all happy to be done—and we finished in half the time I had expected.
Three days later, I returned to the first site to take some photos. It had all turned out well. The signs looked great and I knew the client would be happy. The sunlight was streaming through the trees and the sky was clear. I wished we had postponed our install. Just as the thought ran through my head, I rounded a bend in the trail to find a small lake where the path should be. Three of our signs were already partly submerged. It seems we installed just in time.